The Power of Gossip
by Sinnatious
Summary: TezRyo. In Tezuka’s defence, it had been a moment of panic at the end of a very stressful day. Now everyone thinks he and Ryoma are dating.
1. One White Lie

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, nor am I profiting from it in any way. This fiction was written purely for enjoyment.

Warning: This fiction contains shonen-ai. If you don't know what that term means, you probably don't want to read this fic. If you do know what it means and are offended by it, please don't read, and please don't flame me for something you were warned about.

Author's Note: I was going through my hard drive and happened upon a collection of half-finished fics that I'd originally never intended to see the light of day. Leaving things unfinished bothers me, though, so I thought I'd start posting this one and hope that it doesn't turn out lame. A new chapter will be posted weekly, probably on the weekend.

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**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 1 – One White Lie

By Sinnatious

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In Tezuka's defence, it had been a very stressful day. The young tennis star had spent the morning enduring interviews and press conferences, and hadn't slept well the night before, despite having just played in an exhausting tournament final. The string on one of his favourite rackets had broken during morning training, and he'd completely run out of his favourite blend of tea. Then at lunch, there had been this one fan who just hadn't left him alone, despite his intense desire to have a quiet meal by himself before returning to the hotel to meet up with friends. 

The fan in question was dogging him even as he entered the hotel lobby, and he was stretching his mind for ways to dismiss her as politely as possible, even though she had stubbornly ignored all of his previous hints.

"Yukina," he tried patiently, "It's been very nice having your company, but I'm planning on catching up with some people today. Are you certain you wouldn't rather visit your other friends on this fine Sunday?"

Maybe he was still being too polite after all.

"Of course not, Kunimitsu," she crooned. "Kaori's out of town all weekend and I've nothing else to do! Besides, she made me promise to keep you company while you were in Kyoto when she couldn't. She feels terrible about it, you know. And I'd absolutely love to meet some more of your friends! You never talk about yourself, after all."

Which was what made the current situation all the worse. Normally when his female fans started to encroach on his personal territory, he could curtly excuse himself and not have to worry overmuch about the ramifications. Yukina, on the other hand, happened to be the high school friend of a cousin of his that he'd rarely seen until he entered the pro circuit, but had suddenly started attending all of their family functions and visiting him all the time. His cousin he did not mind so much, but she often included her friend as though she were one of the family – no doubt at Yukina's insistence.

She didn't even seem remotely interested in tennis, to add insult to injury.

"Buchou," a familiar voice called out from somewhere off to his right.

"Echizen," he greeted, hoping his relief at the sight of the other tennis pro wasn't too obvious. The short-statured nineteen-year old, sporting a worn white cap, wandered over to them, giving the girl attempting to hang on to the twenty-one year old's arm a derisive glance, as though all too familiar with her ilk.

"Oh, Echizen Ryoma? You're Kunimitsu's greatest rival, aren't you?" she asked with mild interest. He saw the teen raise his eyebrows speculatively at the use of first name, sending his elder a sideways glance. Tezuka just shook his head imperceptibly. He'd tried to discourage the use of such familiar terms, but the girl was difficult. In all honesty, it was badly grating on his nerves, especially in his tired state.

"I suppose you could say that," he replied dismissively, and then continued, "You're early, Buchou. The others won't be here for another few minutes."

He'd come early in fond hopes of shaking his tag-a-long, but it had apparently been a fool's errand. "So, who was able to come? I saw Inui in the stands yesterday, but couldn't spot anyone else."

"Not everyone. Besides Inui there's-," Echizen started, before being cut off by the excited squeals of the girl attached to his arm.

"Oh, you mean one of your friends is Echizen?"

"Yes," he replied exasperatedly. Wasn't it obvious? And for a purported fan of his, she apparently knew very little – the magazines all made a giant fuss about the fact that he and Echizen had been on the same tennis team in the past.

"Hm," she said thoughtfully, then swung around to face him. "Ne, Kunimitsu? You like me, right?"

"What?" The question caught him off guard. Where had THAT come from? There was no honest answer that wouldn't offend her. "Ah, you're an excellent friend to my cousin, certainly. It was very thoughtful of you to keep me company today in her place," he hedged, dodging what he was suspecting the question was leading up to.

"Hmm, then how would you like to be my boyfriend?" she asked with a stunning smile. Well, he'd expected for his seed of suspicion to have a little longer to take root before being proven correct. So much for subtlety.

Something inside Tezuka snapped. It had been a very long day, and for all of his attempts at politeness, this was one particularly annoying fan he'd been unable to shake. So he did something he very rarely ever did.

Tezuka Kunimitsu panicked.

It was stupid. He simply DIDN'T panic. It wasn't something he ever did. Yet here he was.

Not even entirely aware of what he was doing, he made a frantic grab for the nearest individual, and blurted, "I'm sorry, but I'm already in a relationship, you see."

Even before the words left his mouth, he knew that they were ludicrous. No one would believe the bald-faced lie he was about to tell.

That was when he remembered that the nearest individual was Ryoma, and paled. He'd originally intended to grab the nearest girl, but when he paid closer attention to whose arm he had in his grasp, it appeared to belong to Echizen, who was indeed the person standing closest at the time. In a moment of disorientation, he'd mistaken the short and thin stature out of the corner of his eyes to be that of a female, though he dared not say so out loud – Echizen was still awfully sore about his height, which Inui's strict diet had only partially managed to fix. Even if he was no longer quite so incredibly small next to them as he had been when they'd first met, the young pro was still the shortest of the former Seigaku middle school regulars.

He was damned either way, now. It was suicide – not to mention rude – to openly mistake Ryoma for a girl, even if it was mostly due to his poor peripheral vision while wearing glasses, and equally reckless to face the woman in front of him without some sort of shield to fend off her advances. Might as well run with it.

"Yes, um… Echi- Ryoma and I… are quite attached. I'm sorry I cannot return your feelings."

Tezuka was suddenly incredibly grateful for Echizen's almost permanent deadpan and talent for under reaction. The only sign of his surprise when the former captain had pulled him in had been a slight widening of his eyes and a brief stiffening of his muscles when he'd made his announcement. He prayed that the young tennis star wouldn't be offended and would go along with it.

"Che. You owe me a game. Whenever I want," Ryoma muttered under his breath after a long silence, briefly forcing a strained smile onto his face for the benefit of the girl in front of them.

Tezuka thought he might faint from relief. "Fine," he whispered in response.

"And a Ponta."

He simply nodded, just grateful that at least the teen wasn't going to kill him, or worse, reveal his lie.

It had been a long shot - one that he hadn't really expected to work. The young tennis pro was surprised, then, when she merely blinked, her mouth formed into an 'o', and then broke into a radiant smile. "Kunimitsu! Why didn't you say so sooner? I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable by pursuing him like that," she added, addressing Echizen, who thankfully stayed silent. "Congratulations! I'm sure you two will be happy together. Ah, it all makes so much sense now!"

What? Tezuka stared dumbly as she continued her monologue of speculation and apologies and well wishes. Was it really so easy? She was just going to give up on him, just like that, and all it had taken was one slightly outrageous fib? No tears or wails or screaming declarations of love?

"Yes, well, we're supposed to be meeting up with friends, so we can't really stay around and chat," he started, but she waved him off with a giggle.

"Don't worry, Kunimitsu, I was just going to leave anyway. You take good care of Echizen now, you hear? And don't worry, I won't tell your parents before you're ready to come out to them." With a wink, a careless wave and a beaming smile, she skipped over to the hotel entrance. Apparently, it really was going to be that simple.

"Eeeehhh? It's official? Ochibi and Tezuka are going out?!" A familiar voice exclaimed from behind as she retreated from sight. "About time!"

Tezuka's heart plummeted to the bottom of his stomach. When had they arrived? Great, now he was going to have to endure all sorts of teasing and ribbing from his former team mates over his dilemma. He hurriedly dropped his arm from Echizen's shoulder. The young pro had yet to say anything else or properly change his expression.

"Of course not, Eiji," he chided, hoping that completely sidestepping the issue might spare him some ridicule. "And that is not the proper way to greet someone you haven't seen in months."

Alongside his old redheaded classmate was his doubles partner Oishi, the still-data-gathering Inui, and one embarrassed looking Kawamura. Fuji, Momoshiro and Kaido must have had their own commitments, and hadn't been able to come to the tournament, even though it had been a relatively local one for once. Well, local for them. Neither Ryoma nor Tezuka spent much time in Japan anymore, spending most of the year hopping between all of the tournament venues.

"But this is great news! You guys heard too, didn't you?! Ochibi and Tezuka at last!" the hyperactive boy hollered with a wide grin.

"Very funny. We're not going out. That was just to get rid of a fangirl," Tezuka explained, and then frowned. "And what do you mean 'at last'?"

"Probability of this occurring was 82, but this is much sooner than my previous estimates. Good data," Inui muttered, flipping open his ever-present notebook and quickly scribbling some information down.

"Buchou is telling the truth," Echizen's voice finally cut in.

Oishi gave them both understanding smiles. "You two don't need to be shy, really. I understand you like your privacy, but we're all friends here."

"Uhm, yeah, congratulations," Taka offered timidly, though he was grinning too.

Echizen threw him an exasperated glance, but Tezuka honestly didn't know what to do. He was at a loss. It wasn't as though he was regularly the butt of their jokes.

"Woo woo!" Eiji called.

"Eiji, twenty laps," he responded automatically.

"WHAT?! We're not in school anymore, Tezuka!"

"He was just joking, Eiji," Oishi reassured him.

"Tezuka telling a joke? I don't believe it!"

"Tezuka does indeed have a sense of humour, it is just exceptionally dry," Inui interrupted. "Congratulations also on your win yesterday, Echizen. I'm sorry we couldn't give it to you after the match."

"Che, Buchou's contacts were giving him trouble towards the end of the match." That concession was probably the closest the youngest pro was ever going to get humility.

"The wind blew dust into them, but I was able to clean them properly when we changed court," the elder pointed out. "You won the tie break fairly."

Echizen tugged his cap down over his eyes - after so many years, he still wore it - no doubt spurring the recent sponsorship offer from Fila, too. Inui added, "It certainly did make this tournament much more exciting. It has been five years since a top twenty player came to this tournament, and this time it received two. Even better, you wound up on opposite sides of the draw so it eventuated in a final."

"Most everyone takes a brief break after each of the Grandslam finals," Tezuka pointed out.

"But not you two, huh?" Eiji asked with a wicked grin.

"Eiji!" Oishi scolded.

Tezuka dismissed the jab, hoping that if he ignored their friend's wild speculations they'd forget about the whole silly performance with him and Ryoma and not try to tease him about it. "We can't afford to get careless. Speaking of which, how are your own tournament preparations coming along?" Oishi and Eiji were entering their first international tournament in America in a few weeks - it was effectively their debut into professional doubles tennis. The entire former Seigaku team were planning to head over to the tournament to celebrate it. Kawamura was even taking time away from the sushi shop to come, seeing as everyone else had managed to find the time in their busy schedules.

"Oh, it's going well, but we can discuss that when we get to Kawamura Sushi," Oishi suggested.

Echizen blinked. "Kawamura sushi? But we're in Kyoto."

Eiji elbowed the sushi chef playfully. "That's the other good news! Taka opened up a franchise store! He's moving out from under his father's direction!"

That was a pleasant surprise. "That is marvellous news, Takashi. Congratulations," Tezuka offered, patting his old classmate on the shoulder.

Taka, typically, just looked embarrassed. "I was finally ready. I don't think I'll learn much more if I'm always relying on my father. I want to make it on my own two feet."

"Yup, he only just opened too! So we get to be among his first customers! He even brought a van to drive us all there! So let's go, nya!" Eiji declared, hopping from foot to foot excitedly. For all he'd aged, the acrobat hadn't changed that much at all.

"Oh, I parked a few blocks away, so we'll have to walk. Shall we get going?" the demure chef suggested.

"Now would be an opportune time to leave if we wish to avoid the mid-afternoon peak traffic," Inui agreed.

With that, they headed out onto the street, Eiji practically bouncing circles around Oishi and Taka as they walked, Inui leading the way even while scribbling in his notebook. Tezuka allowed himself to fall to the back of the group, where Ryoma was dragging his feet.

"Heh. It's pretty rare to see you flustered like that, buchou," Echizen commented with a slight smirk as soon as they'd fallen behind enough to be out of easy earshot.

"She was a friend of the family," Tezuka replied tiredly. "I am afraid my usual tactics for dealing with overzealous fans cannot work on her without causing a great deal of trouble."

"And this isn't a great deal of trouble? We're never going to hear the end of it."

"I wasn't aware that the others had arrived while we were talking," he explained tiredly, then paused and added, "I'm extremely sorry to inconvenience you like that. I sort of panicked. Thank you for going along with it."

Ryoma shrugged. "I've tried the same stunt before when cornered by the fangirls. They never believe me for some reason, though." His smirk grew. "You still owe me a game. And a Ponta."

"Whenever you want."

Tezuka thought that was the end of the matter, convinced that his friends would let the matter drop now that it was obvious that there was nothing more going on and that the situation had been exactly as he'd stated. They'd probably make a few more laughs at his expense later, but it would slip from memory just as soon as the next amusing thing happened.

He had no idea how wrong he was.


	2. This Is How Rumours Get Started

Author's Note: I did say that I was going to update weekly, but had some unexpected free time today! Next chapter will turn up sometime on the weekend. Thanks for the reviews so far, hope everyone will stick around!

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**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 2 – This Is How Rumours Get Started

By Sinnatious

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Kawamura Sushi Kyoto looked remarkably similar to the one they were all familiar with, as though the room had perhaps simply been rotated ninety degrees, a new door added, and a few decorations changed. It seemed as though Taka really was treating it more like a franchise store. Tezuka welcomed the familiarity, and was looking forward to tasting some of his old friend's sushi. The food was one thing he relished during his increasingly rare visits to his home country. They eagerly gathered around at a reserved table while Kawamura opened the shop. 

"I wanted to reserve the restaurant just for you guys," he apologised, "But since I'll be taking a fortnight off soon, I figured I ought to be open as much as possible."

"Are you certain you should be taking a holiday so soon after opening?" Oishi asked worriedly.

Taka waved him off. "It's actually probably the best time. This month has just been setting up the store and getting used to managing on my own. I'll need a holiday after that, so that when I return I can start up properly. Besides, I wouldn't miss your international doubles debut for the world."

"That's right, Taka HAS to come, nya!" Eiji announced. "Everyone else is coming! It's going to be a great reunion!"

"Yes, it will be the first time in a while that we've managed to get everyone in the same place," Oishi mused.

"19 months," Inui cut in, adjusting his glasses. "We have managed to get most of the former team together a number of times, but typically missing both Tezuka and Echizen, or myself and Fuji. Kaido has also been extremely difficult to get a hold of recently."

Had it really been that long? He supposed it had. Tezuka hadn't seen either Kaido or Kawamura for quite some time now that he thought about it, though he always managed to catch up with his former classmates on an individual basis whenever he was in the country. As far as he knew whenever Echizen was in Japan he'd end up visiting Momoshiro and Kikumaru, but no one else, though when he thought about it he was pretty sure that the younger pro had mentioned seeing the Viper a few times as well.

It would be good to have the old team together again. Everyone had a circle of people they remembered most fondly from their school days, and for Tezuka it was the team of regulars he had led to the Nationals. Tennis had always been his entire world, and even now, he'd ignore the social invitations of other pros in preference to maintaining those old friendships. At least now that Oishi and Kikumaru were entering the pro ranks in earnest he'd be more likely to see them at events.

Chatter dissolved into the usual catch-up fare, with Kawamura disappearing after a few minutes to the kitchen. After about twenty minutes, though, when Inui had finished grilling them on the tournament, the data-gatherer turned on the tennis pros and asked, "So, would you be forthcoming with more details about your relationship? How long has it been going on? Who confessed first? What are your future plans? How serious is it?"

Tezuka was momentarily gob-smacked, having temporarily forgotten about his blunder earlier in the day amidst all of the other news. "I already explained that it was merely a ruse to discourage an enthusiastic fan. Laugh if you must, but I'm sure you would have done the same."

The doubles pair sent him sly grins. "So not ready to come out yet, huh? What about you Ochibi?" the red head cajoled.

"Buchou owes me a game and a Ponta," was the droll reply.

"Oh, I understand you must be a bit embarrassed, having us find out like that," Oishi soothed. "You really don't have to talk about it if you're uncomfortable. We're all just very curious. And don't worry, everyone's happy for you."

Tezuka could feel the stress that had been mounting earlier in the day starting to return like an invisible pressure on the back of his head. "Really, Oishi, I wouldn't lie to any of you about such a matter." He had never expected his oldest friend to get in on it too.

"I can't believe Ochibi got hooked up! He grew up so fast!" Eiji suddenly wailed, draping himself all over the smaller boy.

"Stop calling me that. And get off of me."

"But Ochibi is still smaller than me, so you're still Ochibi!" Eiji remarked with a zany grin.

"Kikumaru," Tezuka chided, when it looked like the youth was starting to choke.

The hyper acrobat practically dropped the younger boy, a look of realisation passing over his face. Tezuka didn't even want to know what it meant by now.

"Oh, I have to tell Fuji!" Eiji squealed, immediately running for his bag. "He'll be so excited!"

"I've already done the honours, Kikumaru," Inui reported. "He was quite regretful to not be present for the revelation."

Grand, so now everyone would be in on the joke. Well, he supposed he didn't typically give his friends much fodder to work with, so he could put up with it for a change. He could take the brunt of his mistake. Mostly he was starting to feel guilty for dragging Echizen into it.

Something about the entire exchange nagged at the back of his mind, though. It was hard to put his finger on it, but Tezuka definitely felt like he was missing something.

Takashi arrived with the food then, thankfully distracting his friends before they could start calling everyone they knew to spread his embarrassing tale. For a couple of minutes pleasant silence reigned at the table, save for a slew of compliments for the chef's cooking. Kawamura really had improved a lot from his days when he tested his skills out on them.

Partway through his second helping, he spied some girls at the entrance, peering in. His eyes widened and he nearly choked. Not more fans!

After a moment, he realised that one of them was pointing not at him, but at the teen sitting next to him. Oh. Echizen's fans. That was a relief. After the day he had, he didn't think he'd be able to handle another round. He truly appreciated his fans, and he always liked to try and be polite… but not when he'd had such a long day. Especially not when they randomly tried to date him, either. Something about just a little bit of fame seemed to short out the brains of a small sect of the population. That was the one good thing about their overseas travelling – fewer people recognised them outside of their home country.

The pair of girls scurried over, tittering between themselves. Tezuka subtly nudged his companion to warn him of their approach. Echizen just sighed before turning around, as though he already knew the fate waiting for him.

"Echizen Ryoma, right?" the taller of the two asked. They looked to be high school freshmen.

"No," Echizen blandly replied. "I think I saw him leave from the back entrance."

They laughed loudly at that, before the other started bubbling, "It's such a pleasure to meet you! I'm your biggest fan! I've been watching all of your matches ever since you became a pro!"

The young tennis pro didn't respond. It seemed that he didn't even need to, as she barrelled on, "I got front row seats to yesterday's final, and it was such a fantastic game! Congratulations on your win! That drop shot in the last point was amazing!"

Her friend nodded vigorously. "It was so close, I was gripping my seat the whole time!"

They'd started crowding in as they heaped adulation upon the clearly uncaring teen, when Eiji leant back from his meal, grinning at the pair of fans. "Hoi, don't get too close! He and Tezuka are an item now! He's off limits, girls!"

Tezuka resisted the urge to groan and bury his head in his hands.

"Eh, Tezuka?" They glanced around the table and then looked closer at him, realisation dawning on their faces after a long moment. "Oh, Tezuka Kunimitsu as well! We're very sorry, you look so different wearing glasses!"

"Quite alright," he replied, though secretly wishing that the glasses had been enough to completely hide his identity.

They spent a moment looking back and forth between himself and Ryoma before blushing dark red. The shorter girl bowed deeply and blurted, "We're sorry! We didn't mean to interrupt! Could we just get your autographs, please? "

"Che, fine," Echizen condescended, snatching a pen from the hands of the waiting girls and scrawling his name on the proffered tennis ball. What they were doing carrying tennis balls around was anyone's guess. At least this pair seemed vaguely interested in tennis.

"Um, could you also…," she asked, shyly holding out the same tennis ball. Tezuka made to write, but she stopped him. "No, right there," she insisted, pointing to the spot directly above Echizen's messy signature. He carefully wrote out his own signature and handed the ball and pen back to them.

"Thank you very much!" they said in unison. "And congratulations!" Giggling, they ran from the restaurant.

"They could have at least ordered something," Taka commented good-naturedly. Even though it was open, the shop was still empty save for them – a pair of businessmen had come and gone in the time they were there, but that was it.

"Kikumaru," Tezuka said, exasperated, "Was that really necessary?" This was taking the whole joke way too far. Didn't his friends understand that he and Echizen were practically famous now? It would turn into an out-of-control rumour at this rate!

"Was what necessary? I didn't want you getting jealous," the doubles-player teased with a wink.

"Tezuka's fans seem unable to recognize him while wearing glasses. Interesting data," Inui murmured, opening his notebook and making an brief notation.

"Well, technically they were Echizen's fans," Oishi said hurriedly, as though sensing his friend's irritation.

"Who cares? They're gone," Echizen announced, reaching for another piece of sushi. "Your idea really works, buchou. Normally they'd be harassing me until I left."

Tezuka didn't have a response for that. Fortunately, a family of four entered the restaurant then, causing Taka to leave the table and temporarily distracting the rest of the group.

When a lone businessman and a couple came in a few minutes later, Tezuka stood to leave. "I've had a long day, and Kawamura really ought to concentrate on his customers. I'll be heading off. It was good to see you all again."

"Hmm, yes, Eiji and I should be leaving soon too if we want to make it to the train on time," Oishi observed, standing with him, prompting the rest to leave the table as well. "Oh, Inui and Echizen too?"

"I'm staying at the same hotel as Buchou. We can share the cab fare," Echizen explained distractedly.

"And there's little point in my remaining if everyone else is gone. Tezuka is right – we really should leave Kawamura to his work," Inui added.

"Mou, I was having so much fun too," Eiji complained, but latched on to Oishi's arm all the same. "We're leaving, Taka!"

"Eh?" The sushi chef glanced over at them. "Leaving already?"

"We shan't keep you from your work any longer. Thank you for your hospitality," Tezuka said. "The food was delicious. I'm sure that Kawamura Sushi Kyoto will be a huge success."

"Oh, thanks. Well, I guess I'll see all of you guys again in two weeks anyway, huh? Ah, but I drove here-"

"We'll take a cab, don't concern yourself," the tennis pro interrupted.

"See you, Taka!" Eiji called as he bounced out of the restaurant, dragging his doubles partner with him. Inui and Echizen nodded and left also.

They exchanged brief goodbyes outside, and Tezuka flagged down a cab. "Sorry about today," he apologised again to Ryoma as the car started the journey back to the hotel. They'd spent quite a while at Kawamura Sushi – it was already getting dark.

"Che, I should thank you. Got rid of the fangirls really quick…. Doesn't mean you don't still owe me the game and the Ponta, though."

Tezuka sent the younger pro a brief disapproving glance, before deciding that any sort of admonishment on his part would be highly hypocritical. Still, something about the entire evening bothered him. He really wished he could figure out what it was. Instead, he asked, "When are you leaving the hotel? Are you going to catch up with your family?"

Echizen shook his head. "My manager has me booked for a bunch of things here in Kyoto this week, then Osaka after that."

"You're not going back at all?" He was aware that the other pro didn't get along terribly well with his family – having never really been close to his mother and apparently outright embarrassed of his father – but they were so rarely in Japan…

"…I'll spend the last couple of days at the shrine when I'm doing all of the Kanto stuff, before everyone heads off to America. I guess. I wanted to book a hotel that was closer to the city, but my manager didn't get around to it. Too busy scheduling commercials and guest appearances."

He raised his eyebrows, impressed at the schedule. "That _is_ quite a lot."

Echizen just crossed his legs and stared out the window. "Che," he scoffed. "That woman is so annoying. What about you, buchou?"

"I'm checking out tomorrow morning," he replied. "I was planning on visiting my parent's house for the duration of the two weeks, to get some more training in."

"Still mada mada dane," the teen commented with a smirk.

"Indeed. I don't intend to lose the next final," Tezuka remarked gravely.

"Me neither."

The rest of the cab ride was silent, and they didn't exchange anything more than a nod when they headed to their separate rooms at the hotel.


	3. Dropping Pennies

Author's Note: So this chapter should just about finish up the groundwork for shenanigans to occur in following chapters. Woot!

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**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 3 – Dropping Pennies

By Sinnatious

* * *

The next week and a half spent at his parent's house was rather peaceful. Tezuka briefly caught up with Atobe, but cut his rendezvous with Fuji short when the genius spent the entire time making thinly veiled suggestive comments about him and Echizen. The experience was enough to put him off answering whenever Inui called his phone, so he focused on training instead. He had a two-week holiday coming up after all, and he couldn't afford to slack because of it. 

About four days before they were supposed to leave for America, he received a call from Oishi. It was mildly surprising, as he expected his friend to be busy training with his doubles partner in preparation for the tournament.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Tezuka, good, you weren't answering your phone earlier and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get you in time," Oishi's familiar voice echoed from the phone. "Sorry if this is a bit rushed, but I remembered that I still haven't given you the tickets for the trip next week!"

"You can't just give it to me at the airport?" he asked.

"Well, I could, but I'm trying to give everyone their tickets individually in case. What if the person with the tickets was held up or something? Then everyone would miss their flight! And, um… how would you like to meet up for coffee? Like old times, at the regular place? Tomorrow afternoon good for you?"

"Yes, that's fine," he said, "But Oishi… is everything alright? You could have just left the tickets with my mother. You still live nearby, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, I could have… well, actually, I'm just feeling a little nervous is all," he admitted. "Eiji's really excited about our first big tournament, but… well, one of my best friends is a seasoned pro, I was hoping that I could take advantage of any advice you might have to offer."

"Of course," he assured him. "Three o'clock, then?"

"I'd really appreciate it." His gratefulness was obvious even through the phone. Tezuka resisted the urge to smile. Oishi could be so earnest sometimes. "Oh! I almost forgot! Could you tell Echizen to come, too? His is the only other ticket I've got left to deliver, and I can't seem to get in touch with him at all. He never answers the phone! Or maybe you'd rather just take care of his ticket too…?"

He honestly hadn't expected _Oishi_ of all people to still be teasing him about that whole affair – it had been nearly two weeks ago now, enough was enough. A little more curtly than he intended, he replied, "No, I'll call him and let him know to come, provided there are no conflicts in his schedule."

"Right! Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow then!"

Letting out a long sigh he ended the call, dallied for a moment, then dialled the number for Echizen's mobile. Since so much of their tournament schedule collided, they frequently scheduled practice together, so the number was stuck in his memory by now. Tezuka knew his coach, who doubled as his manager, didn't approve of his charge practicing and socialising with his biggest rival, but there simply wasn't anybody else on the same level he cared to train with. And it was nice being able to speak in his first language while training. The only concession Tezuka made was an agreement not to play anything beyond a one-set match during the season – which he'd apparently be breaking with his promise anyway. Either way, Echizen didn't usually complain about it, even if he frequently tried to cajole his former captain into matches at every available opportunity. The teen didn't really have a proper coach, unless you counted his father, so the elder player suspected those one-set matches were the closest to proper training the other pro ever got.

Tezuka didn't understand what Oishi's problem was – when he called Echizen picked up straight away. "Buchou?"

"Echizen," he greeted. "Oishi has our tickets for the flight. Are you free at 3 o'clock tomorrow?"

There were muffled voices in the background, and the tennis player thought he could hear a woman's voice complaining.

"I don't care!" Echizen could be heard saying, as though he were holding the phone away from his ear. "No, I'm not going to that one! Cancel it! I've got other plans!" After a moment, his voice became clear again. "You still there? Yeah, three is fine."

"If you have other commitments…" Tezuka began.

"No," Echizen cut him off. "My manager thinks I have other commitments. I want a break. I'll be there. Where are we meeting?"

"The coffee shop two blocks down from that McDonalds you and Momoshiro used to frequent. Do you need the address?"

"No, I know it. You and Oishi used to go there a lot, right?"

"That's the one," he confirmed, mildly surprised that Ryoma had been that observant, much less able to remember such a trivial detail.

"Okay then." There was more muffled shouting in the background. "Ahh, she's complaining again. I've got to go. See you tomorrow."

"Bye." The connection ended, and Tezuka placed his phone back on the charger. There were still a few hours of light left. He'd get in some more training now, seeing as it looked like he wasn't going to be getting much done tomorrow afternoon.

He was first to turn up at the coffee shop the next day, surprisingly enough. Oishi had a habit of being early for everything, likely directly related to his relentless worrying about being late. More surprising was that the perpetually tardy Echizen was the next to arrive.

"Hey," the young pro said by way of greeting.

"Glad you could make it. Oishi isn't here yet, but we can wait inside," Tezuka responded. He was pleased Echizen could come – as much as he valued Oishi as a friend, the teen's bluntness was the perfect foil to the chronic worrier's diplomacy. Oishi rarely ever had the chance to dither about with his words whenever the young man was present.

They took a booth by the window, Echizen briefly frowning at the menu – no doubt from the lack of Ponta – before asking for a hot chocolate. Tezuka refrained from ordering, preferring to be polite and wait until Oishi arrived.

"How has your work been?"

"Boring. I'd much rather be training. At this rate you _will_ win the next match, buchou."

"You don't need to keep calling me that, Echizen. I'm not your captain anymore."

Echizen just shrugged, and Tezuka knew that it wasn't going to stop the other pro. He'd been telling the nineteen-year-old to just use his name – after all, they were equals now – for the past four years, but the habit persisted despite Tezuka reminding his rival about it on a regular basis.

Oishi walked past just then, and Tezuka raised his hand to let the other man know where they were. Sporting a relieved grin, his friend hurried over, spewing apologies as soon as he sat down. "I'm so sorry I'm late! I even left early but I got caught in traffic and there was this nice old lady at the newsstand that kept talking-"

"It's fine, Oishi," Tezuka assured him.

"Ah, Echizen, glad you could come. Oh, that's right, I have your tickets right here." He fished through his pockets before handing the thin envelopes to them. Another waitress came over then to take their order. She looked new, but then, the staff was bound to have changed some in the six months since they'd last been to this store.

"I'll have a coffee, please," Oishi ordered after a moment of hemming and hawing.

"A green tea for me," Tezuka added.

"Echizen, are you getting anything?"

"I already ordered."

At the name 'Echizen', though, the waitress paused and stared at them for a long moment, before blushing deeply and lips curving into a shy smile. "Echizen? As in Echizen Ryoma?"

"No, that's 'Ryoga'," came the deadpan response. "I have no idea who this 'Ryoma' person is."

"Echizen," Tezuka admonished.

"Oh, um, I'm a big fan," she started. Not again. They'd had unnaturally bad luck of late. "I really wanted to go to the tournament in Kyoto, but I had to work. I watched the match on TV though. It was fantastic."

"Che, I could only play that well because of _this_ guy," Echizen commented, jerking his thumb vaguely across the table, the slight smirk assuring the elder that the other pro was determined that he wasn't going to suffer alone.

The waitress glanced at him again, before recognition dawned. "Oh, Tezuka Kunimitsu as well? What a surprise!"

"Maybe I should get glasses, that way they won't recognise me too," the teen mumbled.

Tezuka frowned disapprovingly. "You don't need glasses."

"You could wear sunglasses," Oishi suggested.

"Che. Then I'd just look suspicious."

"Um, wow, this is such a shock," she said, blushing bright red and fraying the edges of her notebook with nervous fingers. "If you don't mind… that is… both of you here…"

Echizen was clearly becoming exasperated with the girl's nervous murmuring. "We're on a date!" he announced.

"Echizen!" Tezuka admonished, aghast.

The waitress was practically the colour of a ripe tomato now. "Oh! Um… what… that is, I… I'll hurry up with your orders and give you your privacy then! So sorry!" She practically fled the table, but almost immediately hooked up with another waitress. The two of them stood by the cash register talking animatedly, and kept looking over at their table with stars in their eyes.

"Heh, it really does work like a charm."

"You really shouldn't have done that."

"Why not? It worked, didn't it? I used to tell them that I was going to meet my girlfriend, but all they ever did was ask annoying questions or start crying. Well, the really annoying ones, anyway. This way they leave us alone straight away. You're a genius, buchou."

"Echizen."

The younger pro crossed his arms and sulked. "Fine, I won't do it again."

"Echizen is right, though. There were no hurt feelings," Oishi offered.

"True. They almost seem... happy, about it," Tezuka stressed. "You'd think that they'd be more upset rather than less, seeing as it implies that none of them would ever have a chance of their feelings being returned."

"I think it is primarily BECAUSE of that they're happy, Tezuka," Oishi counselled. "They'd probably much rather see you with Echizen than think that they were beaten out by another girl. Well, there's that, and you two DO make a good couple. The fans typically like to see their heroes happy. And the excitement of the controversy is the icing on the cake."

"Girls are WEIRD, buchou," Echizen muttered.

"I find myself agreeing," he replied dazedly, then addressed Oishi once again. "But Echizen and I aren't really going out, after all. It's going to get out of hand, you know."

To his horror, his oldest friend just smiled knowingly at him. "Really, you don't have to keep hiding these things from us, Tezuka. We know you're human."

If it were anyone but Oishi, he'd be convinced that they were still messing with him. But Oishi wasn't the sort of person to drag out a joke to that degree, especially not in private. As it was, he'd thought it unusual that his friend had even alluded to the joke over the phone. That could mean only one thing: that his oldest friend really, truly did believe that he and Echizen were dating.

If Oishi thought it was true… did that mean that all of the rest of his friends hadn't just been teasing him, but honestly believed it too? Inui had been spouting data, he realised belatedly. Inui _never_ randomly quoted false data.

It felt like a bucket of ice cold water had just been dumped over his head. As though sensing the problem, Echizen cut in. "He's telling the truth. It really was just a one-off ploy to shake persistent fans. Well, twice-off now, I guess."

"You two get so easily embarrassed. Relax, I'll make sure Eiji and Momo don't tease you too much when we all meet up at the airport on the weekend. We've all been very curious, but we'll give you your privacy, I promise."

Ryoma and Tezuka exchanged a helpless look. Echizen then just shrugged, obviously giving up.

To the elder, however, it was baffling. If it hadn't just been a joke… Why then were all of his former team mates so eager to believe that he and Echizen were an item? He'd originally been worried that his claim was so outrageous that it would be seen through instantly, yet everyone simply accepted it as though it were something they'd always seen coming. Why? Neither he nor Echizen - to the best of his knowledge - had given any indication in the past that they were even gay, much less attracted to each other.

This was a big problem. His one moment of panic in Kyoto a week and a half ago… if they all really, truly believed it like Oishi did, how was he going to convince his friends that it really had just been a fib? Echizen's uncaring nonchalance over the issue didn't help their credibility any, either. Then again, the other pro never cared about rumours, and was probably used to being teased by Momo and Eiji all the time anyway. It was hardly fair to fault the other pro for not reacting.

He was feeling a bit daft now, really, for not trying harder to clear the issue up in the first place. The whole idea seemed so ludicrous to him that the mere idea that his friends might have _actually misunderstood_ the whole exchange hadn't even crossed his mind. His former team mates were, ridiculous as the notion was, apparently convinced that his fib had been real, and he didn't know how to convince them otherwise – especially since it had taken him this long to even realise that their congratulations and leading comments weren't just jokes at his expense. It wasn't the sort of situation he'd ever been in before - of course, he typically didn't go around telling his fans lies, especially outrageous ones like that, so having to convince people that they WERE lies wasn't exactly something he had any experience in. What was he supposed to do?

As the conversation diverged into a discussion about the sort of lifestyle Oishi could expect in pro tennis, Tezuka forced himself to calm down. There wasn't anything he could say to convince his friends, apparently, but they'd see it for themselves soon enough. They were going overseas for two weeks together – they'd all see first-hand that there really wasn't anything going on between him and Echizen, and the issue would be forgotten.

Of course, when talking about the former Seigaku Regulars, things never did work out that easily.


	4. Resisting the Forces of Chance

Author's Note: I seem to be writing a bit faster than normal, so I'm tentatively going to change my update schedule from weekly to half-weekly. This fic is just so much fun to write. Thanks for all the reviews so far!

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 4 – Resisting the Forces of Chance

By Sinnatious

* * *

Tezuka was first to arrive at the airport that Saturday. Ryoma walked up to the clock - their designated meeting place - carrying his bags a few minutes later, cap pulled low to hide his face. Tezuka didn't have the heart to tell him that his cap probably made him more recognisable to his fans than anything else. He himself didn't have the same problems since he'd started wearing contacts on the court and glasses the rest of the time, save for a couple of enthusiasts that managed to recognise him anyway. Either way, the airport was quiet and filled primarily with business travellers, so no one paid the two semi-famous tennis players any mind. 

"Echizen," he greeted cordially.

"Morning buchou. Are we the first?"

"It appears so. Ready to leave Japan again?"

"Hn, seems like we just got back."

It had only been a little over three weeks since they'd come to Kyoto - and they probably wouldn't get to return for the next four to five months either with the season getting into full swing, as they'd likely go to the American Open, French Open and Wimbledon one after the other, attending smaller tournaments in the lead ups in-between. Tezuka usually found himself too busy to feel homesick, but there were times when he truly detested the pro lifestyle. Luckily, the tennis was worth it, and with Echizen turning up to over half of the same tournaments as him, he at least had someone to talk to that could speak proper Japanese. Even if he was nearly fluent in English and German, it was comforting to talk in your natural language every now and again. He'd rather thought that Echizen wouldn't have minded as much, having spent his childhood in America, but the young pro forever complained about the lack of Japanese food and proper baths, so at least Tezuka knew he wasn't alone in his discomfort.

Speaking of discomfort, he noticed that the younger man was sporting dark bags under his eyes. "Are you well? You look tire-"

"Hoi hoi! Ochibi and Tezuka arrived together, nya!" Eiji hollered in their general direction as he arrived at the airport, cutting his question short.

"Eiji!" Oishi whispered frantically. "What did I just tell you?!"

Tezuka pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd been secretly hoping – albeit foolishly - that by the time the weekend rolled around others would have given up on that ridiculous belief, but apparently it had only lodged itself more firmly in their brains over time. Echizen merely rolled his eyes. Until they could find some other means to convince their friends, ignoring it seemed like the only option. And everyone would see for themselves that there was nothing to it soon enough. He'd just have to be patient.

Kawamura arrived next, along with Momo and Kaido. "Oi! Echizen! Long time no see! And what's this with not even bothering to call when you're in Japan?!" the towering twenty-year old demanded, slinging a mock-threatening arm around his shoulders.

"Sorry Momo. I was busy."

"A likely story. Busy with Tezuka, right? What did you think you were doing, not telling your best friend about something like that?!"

"There's nothing to tell. It's not true."

"Not true?! You were found out and now you think you can just lie about it?!"

"Hey, Kaido," Echizen interrupted before the conversation could continue.

"Fshhuuuu." Kaido hadn't changed much either. He shot a glare at his former rival and made to drop his bags with everyone else's. Tezuka inclined his head in greeting. He wasn't expecting anything more than a nod in response, but to his surprise, the Viper made a beeline for him almost immediately. They exchanged proper greetings and well-wishes, then, while everyone else was engrossed in conversation, he muttered, "You'll treat the brat right."

Tezuka blinked, surprised at the vague hint of threat in his voice. It wasn't a question so much as a statement. Had Kaido just warned him about impure intentions? It confirmed his suspicions that the gruff individual had a soft spot for his former kouhai, at least. He never had the chance to correct him, as the Viper wandered off almost immediately, apparently content with having said his piece. No matter. Even Kaido was convinced, apparently – no doubt the work of Inui.

Fuji and Inui were the last to arrive. It was a weird moment, having the entire team together again, especially since it had been years ago now that they'd all played together.

"Shall we be off, then?" Oishi asked, breaking the moment of reverent silence.

"Yes. Let's go, everyone."

After that, it was a swirl of chaos as everyone checked their luggage in, disappeared to get food and visit restrooms and wander the terminal. Tezuka found himself drinking coffee with Fuji who was busy filling him on his photography freelancing, only occasionally mentioning the law degree he was supposedly doing.

When everyone bundled onto the plane an hour later, Tezuka found that his seatmate was Echizen, and idly wondered if his friends were still playing tricks on him or if the gods were just having a chuckle at his expense. He didn't dislike his fellow tennis player's company… it just wasn't going to be particularly easy to convince his friends that there really was nothing going on when they kept getting thrown together in such a manner.

Seemingly unaware of their folly, the teen said, "You can have the window seat," with a yawn as he stowed his carry-on in the overhead locker.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather I swap with Momo so the two of you can catch up during the flight?" Tezuka asked, even though he did prefer the window – it was rather disruptive having to continually get up and move from the aisle seat whenever anyone wanted to go to the toilet or fetch something from the overhead locker.

Echizen's gaze wandered over to where Momoshiro and Kawamura were sitting across from them. Momoshiro was halfway through getting his teaching qualifications, and was supposedly going into physical education, which he was telling the sushi chef about in a voice loud enough that they could hear him clearly from where they sat. "Nah, we have two whole weeks."

They settled in, with Fuji and Inui sitting in front of them, Momoshiro, Kawamura and Kaido to their left, and Oishi and Eiji two rows in front. After the plane had taken off, he'd retrieved a book he'd stowed in the seat pocket in front of him to read, while Echizen leafed through the free magazines, then watched the in-flight movie. Dinner came and they ate in silence, and Tezuka resumed reading afterwards, though his eyelids eventually grew heavy. Slowly, despite the insistent rumble of the jet engines, he drifted off to sleep.

Waking up with a start an indeterminable amount of time later, Tezuka almost dropped the book that had fallen into his lap. Adjusting his glasses, he glared at Fuji, who was leaning over the seat in front of him with his camera and a wide smile. The weight on his arm informed of the source of his comrade's mirth. Echizen had apparently also fallen asleep and was now slumped against his shoulder.

It was tempting to wake his companion, simply because he knew that his former team mates would simply use it as further evidence of a non-existent relationship. But at the same time, Echizen looked peaceful, and he was probably exhausted after spending most of the past two weeks doing advertisements instead of resting and training after the tournament – especially if those bags under his eyes were any indication. Tezuka was lucky that his current coach/manager - one that Atobe had hooked him up with - actually remembered that he needed breaks. Ryoma's agent, some busty blonde woman that his father had found, seemed to regard the younger player as a sort of machine, and if it wasn't for the teenager's stubborn personality and uncooperative attitude, he'd probably be worked to death doing promotions instead of playing tennis. Tezuka personally hadn't believed that either of them needed a personal manager, but it turned out that things were a lot easier when you had someone to arrange your travel, accommodation and schedule for you. At least, things were easier for him. Ryoma really needed to find someone new - Echizen Nanjiro had obviously chosen the woman for her looks rather than her skill.

Sighing, he turned his head away and resumed reading his book, leaving the sleeping youth as he was. His friends were currently convinced either way, so he might as well let Echizen get some rest. It was a long flight, after all.

They arrived in Los Angeles that afternoon, despite having left Japan just before lunch, and then transferred to Dallas where the tournament was being held. It was early evening when they finally arrived at their destination.

They'd all checked into the same hotel, planning on spending the week before Oishi and Eiji's doubles debut on socialising. Presumably, the Golden Pair were going to spend a good portion of that time practicing, but they'd all offered to help them train. Neither Tezuka nor Ryoma were taking part in the week-long tournament, mostly because it wasn't one that the top-thirty usually frequented and so seemed unsporting - not to mention boring - to breeze through the draw without any of their matches getting to the third set. That, and Tezuka hadn't wanted to steal the limelight from his two former team mates. He was certain that their debut would make a splash in doubles tennis, and didn't want to infringe on it as anything other than a supporter. Echizen had agreed, though only after being prodded into saying so.

Oishi was busy handing out the key cards in the foyer – everyone was too tired to bother doing anything else other than go straight to sleep, including Echizen who had spent the majority of the flight doing just that. "They only had one three-person room left - apparently the place got overbooked. Inui, Kaido and Momo are in that room. The rest of us have doubles. Me and Eiji, and Kawamura and Fuji - we're all on the same floor. Tezuka and Echizen," he said, handing over the last key. "You're two floors above us, sorry."

"Hoi hoi!" Eiji exclaimed with a wink, before being sharply elbowed by his doubles partner.

Momoshiro and Kaido were already glaring daggers at each other; time apparently having done nothing to ease their rivalry. Tezuka, however, felt his stomach sinking ominously. It wasn't that he minded rooming with the younger pro - it was more than he expected that his team mates were putting them together for the wrong reasons again.

Still, it was too late to kick up a fuss about it, so he wordlessly took the key card and nodded to his roommate. "Meet in the foyer at 8am?"

There was a jumbled chorus of agreement as everyone tiredly shuffled into the elevator. He bade goodnight to the others as they left on their own floor, carefully ignored Eiji's winks and Fuji's sly glances, and continued up the next two floors with his silent companion.

He slid the key into the card slot by the door, and waited for the lock to click to open it, barely able to suppress his own yawn as he did so. They entered the dim room, Echizen throwing the bags haphazardly into the closet by the door as he fumbled for the light switch. Finally, he located it, flooding the dark room with light, and then suddenly wishing he hadn't.

Tezuka knew that he shouldn't have let his well-meaning friend organise the rooms, especially given the current misunderstanding. But it just hadn't been a situation that had even occurred to him.

There was only one bed.

Well. This was going to be awkward.

Ryoma, was apparently unbothered, and possibly even bemused by the entire fiasco. He walked over to the double bed and flopped down on it. "Two Pontas. And burgers."

"I honestly didn't expect it was going to get out of control like this."

"Che, they'll get bored and believe us eventually," the younger pro pointed out.

"What do you suggest we do?" Tezuka asked, having no clue what the next step should be. Oishi had already said that the hotel was overbooked, so it was unlikely that they could ask for another room.

Ryoma shrugged from where he was sprawled. "It's big enough. I don't mind sharing. Unless you snore. Do you snore, buchou?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Okay then." And apparently, as far as Echizen was concerned, the problem was solved. Still, Tezuka wasn't entirely comfortable with the arrangement. He was rather fond of his personal space, and hadn't ever really shared his bed with anyone - whenever friends or relatives had stayed over in the past, there'd always been a spare futon available, and so he'd never been required to double up before.

He shook his head as though to clear it. It wasn't really an issue - he was just making it more of one because of his friends' teasing. Besides, for all he'd grown, Echizen was still small by most people's standards, and the bed was plenty large. And it wasn't as though he was the only one making a sacrifice - the young pro was just as private a person as he was. Making a fuss would just make the situation more uncomfortable.

"You can have a shower first," Tezuka offered. Nodding, Ryoma stood with a yawn and dragged himself to the hotel bathroom, then poked his head out again almost immediately.

"Hey, buchou, there's a bath in this one!"

Curiosity piqued, he headed over to inspect it with Echizen. Indeed, there was a deep bathtub, long enough to fit the younger man comfortably, though it would be a tighter squeeze for him. It was a shower-tub combo, but Tezuka had stayed in enough hotels that lacked the feature to appreciate it. "Inui must have done his research when he chose this place."

"Che, if I'd known I would have brought some salts with me."

"I have some that you can use," Tezuka suggested, aware of his companion's love of hot springs and baths. He didn't have the same interest that Echizen did, but kept a supply of various salts in the bottom of his bag on the off chance he was lucky enough to wind up with a hotel suite that had a bath. "You'll have to wait a few minutes for me to retrieve them, though."

"Thanks, but I'll just be quick tonight," he dismissed with another deep yawn.

"Don't fall asleep in the tub," Tezuka warned.

"I'm not that careless, buchou."

Half an hour later found Tezuka knocking on the door regardless. When there was no answer, he sighed and tested the handle, mildly relieved to find that his roommate had forgotten to lock it. Sure enough, Echizen was still in the tub, head lolling to the side and eyes closed.

"Echizen," he called, trying to avert his eyes for modesty's sake. He reached out to shake his shoulder, then when that still didn't work, filled one of the glasses by the sink with cold water and dumped it on the young pro's head, mentally apologising for the rude tactic as he did so.

That woke him up. Echizen sputtered, blinked sleepily, and then finally seemed to recognise him. "Buchou, what are you doing here?"

"You fell asleep in the tub."

"Ah, I got careless after all," he said with a grimace, half rising out of the water. Tezuka threw him a towel, trying to ignore the awkwardness and Echizen's apparent lack of modesty. Really, it wasn't as though they hadn't changed in the same locker room before... but they were full-grown adults now. Tezuka didn't quite know why that left an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, but didn't bother analysing the sensation. Task complete, he hurriedly exited the bathroom and closed the door firmly behind him.

"Sorry for taking so long," the teen apologised when he finally emerged clad in red boxers and a white shirt, towelling his hair dry.

"Don't worry about it. You should be careful not to catch a cold," he responded wryly, not waiting for a reply before sweeping into the bathroom himself.

Even though he was quick, when he emerged Echizen was already fast asleep, sprawled atop the bed covers. Sighing, he shifted the other pro under the covers, privately wondering how on earth the boy managed on his own at the American Open at age 12 when he seemed incapable of taking care of himself at age 19.

Then again, he didn't have a manager running him into the ground at age 12, either, a small voice growled in the back of his head. He'd only met the woman a few times, but was starting to develop an unusually intense dislike for her. If she caused his rival to retire prematurely, he'd never forgive her.

Tucking the covers in, Tezuka paused a moment, taking in the rare of sight of a completely unguarded Ryoma. His hair was tousled and lips slightly parted as he softly breathed in a gentle rhythm. It was so hard to believe that this was the devil he faced on the court on such a regular basis. What was the saying? That they looked like such angels when they were asleep?

With a sigh, Tezuka headed over to his own side of the bed, climbing in carefully so as not to disturb the other occupant. He hadn't thought that he'd be able to sleep properly with another person in such close proximity, but the exhaustion from the long flight soon kicked in and he was unconscious within minutes.


	5. Overthinking Things

Author's Note: Pretty hum drum chapter this one, but important for setting the tone for future chapters. Bear with lack of progress! I suppose I should warn people that I do tend to take things a little slowly – that's just my writing style, and I can't seem to shake the habit. Also, I should mention that while I may include other implied elements of other pairings, they're not the focus of the fic and won't ever be explicitly stated. Thanks for all the reviews, too! They really to inspire me to write faster (and also serve as timely reminders to update). :)

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 5 – Over-thinking Things

By Sinnatious

* * *

When Tezuka awoke the next morning, he was momentarily confused as to the reason why his left side was so warm. Fumbling with his right hand for his glasses on the bedside table, he glanced down to see a mess of black hair at his shoulder. Ah, now he remembered. It appeared at Echizen had wound up somewhat closer to the centre of the bed in the middle of the night. 

Even though he knew he ought to move, it was sort of hard to summon the will. It was very comfortable, after all, and it wasn't like his friends were there to see and take it the wrong way.

Wait… his friends…

Sitting up with a start, Tezuka fumbled for a clock. It was already five minutes past eight o'clock! He'd been counting on the early night and jet lag to wake him in plenty of time, so hadn't bothered setting the alarm. He'd slept for an unusually long time. "Echizen, wake up! We're late."

"Nnnnnhhhnnn." The young pro mumbled something inarticulately and groaned at the loss of warmth as Tezuka threw back the bed covers and hurried to the closet. Even though they were technically on holidays and there was no rush, Tezuka never liked being late, and would prefer to keep his tardiness as minimal as possible.

When he emerged from the bathroom a record fifteen minutes later, dressed and groomed, Echizen had only managed to get as far as sitting up. Given the way the teen was staring into space with blank half-lidded eyes, he wasn't entirely certain if his roommate was even actually awake yet. "Echizen."

"Right. Morning. I got it." Yawning, the teen dragged himself from the bed and half-stumbled to the bathroom, blindly pulling some clothes out of his own bags as he did so.

Echizen somehow finished his morning routine in less than seven minutes, even though Tezuka had heard the shower run. Obviously the young pro was well-used to running late and had refined his morning routine to such a degree that he could do several things at once even while only half-conscious.

Even so, they were at least twenty-five minutes late by the time they made it into the foyer, and Echizen still looked grumpy and dishevelled.

"Hoi hoi, Tezuka and Ochibi are late!" Eiji half-shouted as they arrived, eliciting several disgruntled glares from other early-morning risers at the hotel. "Up late, were you?" He waggled his eyebrows.

Tezuka only barely resisted the urge to cover his eyes. It was too early in the day for this.

"Eiji!" Oishi scolded.

"Ah, don't worry, Inui, Momoshiro and Kaido still haven't come downstairs," Taka consoled them.

"Apparently they're fighting again," Fuji offered helpfully, not needing to specify exactly who was doing the fighting.

There was a ringing phone, and a still-half-asleep Echizen shuffled through his pockets, withdrew his cell phone, took one glance at the number and then promptly turned it off.

At the curious looks he received, he simply stated, "My manager," and left it at that.

The remainder of their group tumbled from the elevators a few minutes later, Inui leading the way while Momo and Kaido stubbornly ignored each other. "Good morning, everyone, I trust you all slept well?" The data-gatherer's gaze lingered on them each in turn, and Tezuka just _knew_ that Inui was probably making mental annotations about their posture and the colour of the bags under their eyes to infer the answer for himself. Everyone else seemed to know, too, so didn't bother answering.

"Well, now that everyone's here, should we get started?" Fuji suggested.

"Ah, yeah! The day's wasting!" Momo suddenly announced, grabbing Echizen and starting to drag the still barely-awake teen towards the hotel entrance. "Come on, let's go sight-seeing Echizen! I can't speak very good English, so you can be my translator."

"Fsssshuuu. Moron."

"WHAT WAS THAT VIPER?"

"But we're in Dallas," Echizen complained. "There's nothing much to see here."

"Not true! Check out all these brochures I found in the hotel for all these attractions!" The spiky-haired man proudly displayed a fistful of garish brochures, advertising the various sights and tourist traps. Echizen didn't look convinced, but gave up resisting.

Taka started to follow, hesitating when no one else moved. "Is everyone coming?"

"Ah, Eiji and I were really intending on spending this week training in preparation for the tournament…" Oishi began.

"What about you, Tezuka? Don't you want to go with Echizen?"

"There's no need," he replied impassively. He was still finding it hard to fathom that his friends were honestly convinced of some sort of relationship between him and the other tennis pro, but reacting to it merely seemed to validate their convictions rather than correct them. Kawamura gave him an odd look, but didn't press the issue.

"Mou, Oishi! We're in America! We ought to go sightseeing!" Eiji complained, grasping his doubles partner by the arm.

"Eiji, we agreed that we'd do that after the tournament finished! That was why we booked those extra couple of days! We can go sightseeing then! Training first!"

Inui perked up at that. "Would you mind if I were to observe your training? My data of your performance is at least a month out of date."

Oishi, looking a little embarrassed, said, "Well, Eiji and I were just going to do some solo training at the venue today first, but we'd very much appreciate everyone's help later in the week."

"Ah, understandable. Very well then, Fuji, Tezuka, would you mind if I were to join you?"

"Go right ahead, Inui," Fuji welcomed him. "Though we're just having brunch." Tezuka didn't remember agreeing to that, but it sounded like a good idea.

"That reminds me, Tezuka, I've noticed your stamina has improved by approximately ten percent over the last three tournaments, is this change related to dietary or..."

"Come now, Inui, Tezuka is on holiday for once. Let's not pester him and Echizen with these sorts of matters."

"It's quite alright," Tezuka interrupted. "This is a holiday insofar as I have no official commitments, but I do intend to keep up at least a light training regime." Besides, if they were talking about tennis, they were less likely to try asking questions about his supposed love life.

"Mustn't get careless, right? As expected of our esteemed former captain."

Apparently he was never going to escape that. It was pleasantly nostalgic in some regards, but sometimes it made him feel as though he was still in school. "Indeed."

"I saw a nice-looking diner on our way in yesterday that I believe would suit everyone's tastes. Kawamura, Kaido, will you be joining us?" Inui asked.

"Fsshhhuuu," was the Viper's only response as he trailed after his lifelong rival. For all they fought, the two of them apparently didn't tire of each other's company.

"Ah, I think I'll go sightseeing with Momo and Echizen," the sushi chef apologised. "This is my first time overseas so... well, we did go to Germany, but that was for such a short time..."

"It's fine, Taka, have fun," Fuji assured him, waving him off cheerily. "Better hurry or they'll leave you behind."

So the gathering splintered and everyone scattered their separate ways. It would have been nice to have the entire team do something together, but there would be plenty of time for that later in the trip. It wasn't like they could really all train together in the same manner as they used to - Takashi and Fuji hadn't really kept up with the sport, and Kaido, Inui and Momo all only played casually, though apparently Kaido still entered a lot of local tournaments. Though given it was the one interest they all shared, there would inevitably be at least some tennis that week. Tezuka privately thought it a great shame that Fuji hadn't pursued a professional career himself, and was also curious to see what level Kaido was at these days. He also wondered if Taka would still get aggressive just holding a tennis racket, given that he hadn't played since middle school.

"Heh, Momo's so excited to see Echizen again. You're not jealous, are you, Tezuka?" Fuji asked. Blue eyes slid to the side to stare at him.

Tezuka ignored the question, refusing to acknowledge it with a response. "Where did you say the diner was, Inui?"

The data gatherer led the way to a place a couple of blocks away that was somewhat quaint but served good food. Inui more or less drove the conversation, as he was prone to doing in his relentless need to know every tiny detail about everything – at times Tezuka wondered if it were some sort of involuntary compulsion – while Fuji continued to make vague remarks about Echizen at every available opportunity. Eventually, the tennis pro found himself enquiring after Inui's study progress in a vain attempt to distract the data-gatherer from the between-the-lines non-conversation Fuji was trying to have with him.

While Fuji was studying law and doing freelance photography, Inui had gone into physiotherapy and sports medicine – even going so far as to do his first few units while still at high school, thanks to their tennis coach pulling a few strings. As such, he only had two theory units left, so would be graduating in another couple of months.

"I find myself with far too much spare time at the moment, though," he confided. "I was doing extra units last semester and over the summer, so I'm used to having a full schedule."

"Couldn't you do some more electives? For extra credit?" Fuji suggested.

"I did consider that, but I've already done most of the electives that interest me. And in all honesty, of late I have begun to question my decision to pursue this career. While the subject matter itself is fascinating, during my work experience placement I found the job itself to be unchallenging and rather boring. I am planning to use this spare time to consider some possible alternatives."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Tezuka assured him, though Inui never needed assurances, being the sort of person who always knew the exact probabilities.

After enjoying a leisurely brunch, they wandered the streets for a while, checking out some of the stores there before heading back to the hotel. Tezuka wanted to do some reading and light training, and Fuji wanted to wander around and take some photographs of the area. Inui wound up offering to feed him some balls on the hotel's tennis courts – Oishi and Eiji had gone to train at the venue's courts, which were open that week for use by the tournament's participants. After a while, Fuji returned from his wanderings and joined in.

It was about five o'clock in the afternoon when the sight seeing group returned, their arrival heralded by yet another shouting match between Kaido and Momo. The two had at least matured to the point where their spats rarely came to blows anymore, but their scuffles never failed to draw attention.

"Momoshiro, Kaido!" Tezuka barked out of habit, barely able to restrain the urge to give them laps. Fuji let out a low chuckle from where he stood next to him.

The admonishment was enough to bring the pair to their senses. "Ah, hey everyone!" Momo yelled cheerfully, argument already forgotten while the Viper just hunched his shoulders. "We're back! Sorry for stealing him for the whole day, Tezuka," Momo called, then turned to his friend with a grin on his face. "Heh, I won't keep you away from your boyfriend any longer, Echizen."

Ryoma just deadpanned. "Idiot." He wandered over anyway. "Buchou, Fuji."

"Hello there Echizen. Did you and Momo enjoy yourselves?" Fuji asked pleasantly.

"Che, it was alright. I would have rather been playing tennis, though."

There was the trill of a ring tone just then, and the teen, grumbling, fished his phone out of his pocket and hung up without even looking at it.

"That was a rude, Echizen," he admonished, sending his comrade a reproachful glance.

He merely shrugged. "It was probably just my manager again. She's been calling all day."

"But you don't know for sure. What if it was a family member?" Probably not the best example, as Echizen had far from an ideal relationship with his family, but with a sigh, the younger pro starting keying buttons and checking through his call history anyway.

"Nope, definitely my manager," he confirmed, shoving the phone back into his pocket. There wasn't much else Tezuka could say to that, given that the youth was probably right to ignore the woman.

"Oh, I think I see Oishi and Eiji coming this way. Just in time. Inui's made bookings at a Mexican restaurant tonight," Fuji observed.

Indeed, the Golden Pair were heading their way, looking as if they'd freshly showered. They gathered in a loose circle, and after several minutes of aimless discussion and trying to keep various people (mainly Echizen and Kaido) from wandering off on their own, they managed to get everyone agree to change into some nicer clothes and meet in the lobby before heading to the restaurant. It was times like that when Tezuka missed the ability to pull rank and just order everyone around – with such a diverse group, organising anything was a headache.

Echizen was already buttoning his shirt when Tezuka finally made his way back up to the room. "Buchou," he said again by way of greeting, even though they'd only just seen each other downstairs a few minutes ago. The teen probably did it just to irritate him.

"Echizen. Will you be using the bathroom?"

His rival just shook his head, vaguely gesturing for him to go ahead.

The shower should have been refreshing, but Tezuka spent most of it wondering why exactly Echizen was so stubborn about keeping his old title, and then examining why it was bothering him so much. No answers were forthcoming, but at least the hot water had managed to melt away some of the stress of the day. They really had to dispel that rumour quickly, so that it wouldn't wind up disrupting the entire holiday. Surely the fact that his former protégé didn't use even his last name, much less his first name, ought to clue his friends into the truth of the matter?

It seemed like only time would bring the truth to light. Unless he and Ryoma staged a fake break-up for their non-existent relationship, but he couldn't see either of them making that at all convincing.

So, in the effort or speeding things along – he didn't particularly want to have to over think his every interaction with his roommate for the entirety of their holiday, after all - when they went out to dinner that night Tezuka made a deliberate point of sitting several seats down from Echizen. The other pro slanted an odd glance at him, but was distracted a second later by Momoshiro bending his ear over some matter. Honestly, Tezuka preferred the edge of the table where he was less likely to be jostled by Kikumaru's undisciplined elbows and have Inui analyse his meal, but he consoled himself that he need only make such minor sacrifices for a couple of days - just long enough to dismiss their former team mates' crazy notions - then there wouldn't be any need to worry about people misconstruing a regular conversation or seating arrangement. How on earth did Echizen manage dealing with the constant comments, though? Was he really that uncaring, or were they leaving him alone?

That notion was dispersed a moment later, when Momo grinned at his friend and jibed, "Hey, Echizen, shouldn't you be sitting next to Tezuka? You know, now that you're-"

"Shouldn't you be sitting next to Kaido, then?" Echizen interrupted in a bored tone.

Momo immediately spluttered. "What? Sit next to that Viper?! You've got to be kidding!"

"What was that? You picking a fight, Momoshiro?" Kaido snapped, suddenly alert.

"Hmmm, sorry Inui," Ryoma muttered, taking a leisurely sip of his drink. The data-gatherer was currently seated next to Kaido but in front of Momo, and no doubt could expect an evening of being caught in the crossfire.

That was his answer, then. Echizen was something of a master of misdirection. Tezuka wasn't entirely without that ability himself, but given that his primary opponents were Fuji and Oishi... well, Fuji was notoriously difficult to distract unless his brother was somehow involved, and Oishi was trying so very hard to avoid offending him that it would feel nasty using such underhanded tactics on him. No, merely establishing some distance and maintaining a normal facade ought to be enough to shake the misunderstanding once at for all. Sometimes these sorts of problems DID resolve themselves. At least, that was what Tezuka kept repeating to himself, anyway.

Still, it was starting to bug him - as embarrassing and awkward as the whole affair was, the thing that had started to confuse him was the response. Why did everyone believe it so quickly and easily? Why wasn't anyone bothered? They all acted as though they'd expected this for years, and that it was the most natural thing in the world. He and Echizen had always had something of an odd relationship - it wasn't quite just that of a captain and team member, nor just of friends, nor just a rivalry - but it certainly hadn't ever had THOSE sorts of elements to it. Had it?

A waiter came to order, and he shook his head as though to clear it of those thoughts. Now wasn't the time to dwell on the oddness of his relationship with the other pro. Besides, Fuji was looking at him like he could read his mind, and paranoid as it might be, Tezuka didn't want to take chances.


	6. Discussing Rumours

Author's Note: There have been a couple of reviewers who have asked whether this fic is BL or shonen ai. The answer is yes. Heck, I thought it fairly obvious from the 'TezRyo' tag in the summary, not to mention the warnings in the first chapter. I'd even go so far as to say that it was the point! People must scroll past the author's notes. So why I'm answering their questions in the author's note is… um, look, new chapter! Go read.

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 6 – Discussing Rumours

By Sinnatious

* * *

The second day of their holiday started off much the same as the first – Tezuka woke up late with Echizen latched onto his side. Since they hadn't made any concrete plans with the others yet, though, he carefully extricated himself from the bed without waking his companion, figuring that the younger pro should be allowed to sleep in on his holiday if he so wished it. It was a good thing he did, too, because no sooner than he'd emerged from his shower than Fuji and Inui barged into their room with Momoshiro in tow. 

"Good morning," he greeted cordially, let that sink in for a moment, then asked, "How did you get into the room?"

Fuji held up the card key. "We got a spare."

That explained why Oishi didn't have a second card key for them when he'd handed them out originally. Tezuka couldn't shake the suspicion that his friends had come barging in like that in hopes of finding their friends in the exact position they'd been in fifteen minutes before – especially if the camera in Fuji's hand was any indication. He held out his hand for the card key expectantly, commenting, "It's rude not to knock."

The blue-eyed genius handed the card over with a calm smile, but Tezuka couldn't feel reassured. Somehow, he expected that the Fuji-Inui combination were perfectly capable of getting into their room whenever they liked, card key or not.

"Ah, sorry Tezuka, I wanted to come get Echizen to go out, but I forgot what room number you guys were," Momo apologised, "So I asked Inui and Fuji overheard and brought us up here…"

"No matter. Echizen is still sleeping. You're welcome to try and wake him up."

Groaning, Momo went to try and rouse the teen.

"Did you two sleep well?" Fuji asked. Tezuka ignored him.

"I've found that the pillows provided by this hotel are not conducive to good posture, despite being very comfortable. For people sleeping on their backs, foam would be much better choice, and would prevent the development of a sore neck."

"Inui, you're not at university right now."

"But I thought Tezuka, being a professional athlete, would be concerned about such matters."

"I shall certainly keep your advice in mind, Inui," he assured the data-gatherer.

They went down to breakfast where Eiji and Oishi were just finishing eating while Momo valiantly tried to coax Echizen out of bed. He must have succeeded at some point, because when he returned to the hotel room, it was deserted.

The others had all dispersed to go sightseeing or play tennis, but Tezuka, feeling uncharacteristically lazy, opted to have some alone time and catch up some reading in the hotel room. For lunch, he wandered out onto the street, and eventually selected a coffee shop that had a good array of sandwiches to eat at.

No sooner than he'd sat down, though, an excitable woman came running over to him. "Tezuka! Tezuka! Hi!" She called out, waving enthusiastically.

He cringed slightly, hoping her hollering didn't alert any nearby fans to his presence – his relaxing day would be completely ruined if he had to be dogged by another Yukina. Fortunately, she arrived at his table pretty quickly, though out of breath. "Ah, what a surprise! Are you in town for the tournament next week? I didn't see you on the roster."

Thankfully, it wasn't a fan. It was Inoue's partner – the lady that was always taking pictures. He was having trouble remembering her name. "Ah, yes, hello. I'm just in town to watch the tournament, though, I'm not participating."

"Of course! Kikumaru and Oishi are playing doubles in this one, aren't they?" she said cheerily, pulling out a seat and sitting down without asking. She waved a waiter over and ordered a coffee and sandwich. "Wow, it's nice that you've all stayed friends for so long. Inoue was always going on about how close-knit Seigaku's star team was."

"Where is Inoue?" Tezuka asked, glancing around in hopes of spotting the familiar journalist.

She just laughed. "Oh, we haven't worked together for years! He's the chief editor at Pro Tennis Monthly now, but I received an offer to do the sports photography for the national newspaper. And I used to think taking photos of tennis matches was hard! It's almost impossible to get a clear shot in soccer!"

"Ah. Congratulations to you both. I was unaware." He'd given Inoue an exclusive interview about a year ago, mostly as a favour since the journalist had been following his and Ryoma's careers for so long, but it hadn't occurred to him at the time that the dynamic duo had been broken up. It wasn't particularly surprising, as he recalled the photographer had never exactly been a tennis enthusiast, but after seeing the pair of them turn up to all of their middle school and high school tournaments, it was hard to imagine them separate.

Their orders arrived, and Tezuka concentrated on his food and trying to remember her name while she chatted amicably about the upcoming tournament. About halfway through lunch, though, she gave him a sly wink and said, "Oh, and I just heard about you and Ryoma, so congratulations are due!"

Oh no, not this again. Wait… "How did you find out about that?"

"You know how the rumour mill works. Inoue mentioned it to me in confidence – I think he heard from your old high school coach?" Inui hadn't called _her_ as well, had he? Didn't his friends have any tact at all? "It's all very romantic, though! Straight out of a movie! Though I was heart-broken, of course." She grinned to show she was joking.

"It isn't true, though," he tried to explain. "It was just... a joke." It was easier to explain it like that than go through the trouble of detailing the circumstances and context.

She laughed. "If you say so, Tezuka. But you know, even if it's kept in confidence now, there's probably going to be stories in the magazines soon, if there aren't already. I'm rather excited about it myself," she bubbled.

Shiba, that was it. Exasperated, Tezuka replied, "But the scandal... my career..." Even though he'd worried about it initially, he'd never honestly thought he might have to try and convince _reporters_ that it was an odd misunderstanding. It was already hard enough to convince his closest friends!

Blinking, she put a finger to her lips in thought. "I honestly don't think you have to worry about that. There's always a couple of old folk who'll be upset about it and treat you coldly, but they're a really tiny minority these days. If anything, it's bound to help your career! It makes you more exotic, you know. It's a healthy sort of controversy - people will want to follow your career more because of it. Not that either you or Ryoma need any help getting sponsorship or being invited to tournaments, but it can't hurt, right?!"

"We're going to be followed by paparazzi, now?" he asked, brow creasing in worry.

"Oh, don't look so worried, Tezuka! You'll find that once your secret has been exposed, they tend to lose interest. It becomes old news. And the paparazzi aren't that bad. At least, not until you reach biggest name in Hollywood sort of status. You two might have had some trouble if you were in Japan, but while you're overseas you're not that likely to get mobbed."

That was all mildly reassuring… but this was all a giant misunderstanding that was starting to spiral out of control. How long until he had calls from family members, demanding to know about his secret affair? This was horrible! "But you know… Echizen and I really aren't… why won't anyone believe me?"

Shiba either didn't hear him, or his words just didn't register. After a few minutes of her trying to grill him for details on the perceived 'relationship', he excused himself and fled back to the hotel, where he spent a good twenty minutes stressing about the situation. Eventually, he grabbed his tennis racket and headed onto the courts, hoping that a work out would clear his head. He stayed out there for the entire afternoon, just doing repetitive strokes until it started to get dark. No solutions to his dilemma had presented themselves at the end of the training session, but at least he felt a little better.

A few minutes after he'd cleaned up and had a shower, Echizen wandered into the room. "Hey buchou."

"Hey." The young pro was fiddling with his phone, but suddenly threw it aside carelessly and flopped onto the bed with a groan. "Your manager again?"

"I told her not to contact me for two weeks," he grumbled. "I'm on HOLIDAYS."

"Have you thought about getting someone new?"

The pause was indicative of a yes, but a moment later the youth replied, "I don't really know who else to get, though. Better the devil you know, right?" He scrunched up his face slightly.

"Have you thought about Inui?"

That caused the teen to sit up. "Inui? Isn't he doing physiotherapy?"

"He has almost completed his studies in it, but mentioned to me that he was thinking of a career change."

Echizen snorted. "Changing your career before you even start it?"

"Many people go to University only to discover what they most want to do later. You could at least try asking. He already creates half of your training schedule as it is, and his background in sports medicine would be useful as well. He could even double as a coach. Plus you already know him and he's already used to your personality, and with his organizational abilities you have to admit that he'd be very good at it."

Tezuka deftly caught the pillow thrown his way. "What was that about my personality?"

"It was only a suggestion. It just seems as though your current manager isn't working out, and Inui was one of several alternatives I could think of."

"Hmmm." Lying back on the bed again, the youth didn't say anything else on the matter, though his expression was thoughtful.

"So what did you do today?" he asked.

"Eh, Momo dragged me to some arcades this morning – I don't know why, they weren't very good ones – then we found some courts and played tennis for most of the afternoon. Heh, he's gotten sloppy, though. Couldn't even win a point against my right hand."

"You're a professional," Tezuka pointed out.

"Hn," was the non-committal reply. "What about you, buchou?"

"Nothing much, just some light training and reading. Oh, by the way, I saw Shiba today."

"Shiba? Who's that?"

"You know… the photographer who used to work with Inoue."

Blank stare.

"From Pro Tennis Monthly," he prompted.

Still no recognition.

"The red-headed woman that used to cheer and fight with the other girls at our middle school tennis tournaments?" Tezuka tried.

"OH, that lady."

"Yes, that lady. Anyhow, she tried to ask me about our 'secret relationship'."

"How did she find out about something like that?"

"Apparently someone's been spreading the news around."

"Hn, probably Inui," Ryoma commented, sitting up.

"Or those other fangirls you lied to," Tezuka pointed out.

"Nah, definitely Inui."

No one could claim the other pro wasn't perceptive. "She seems to think it's almost common knowledge by now. She said to expect rumours in the magazines."

"The damn press always do work fast. It's not like it even has anything to do with tennis, either." Echizen flopped back onto his back with a drawn out yawn.

"You don't seem bothered by it at all," Tezuka observed, somewhat surprised by the laid back reaction.

"The question is, why are YOU so bothered by it, buchou? It was your idea, after all."

"Because it's not true!"

"So what if it was? Would it be okay then?" Echizen challenged.

"What?" Tezuka was briefly thrown off balance by the question. "That is irrelevant. I don't like lying. And it's practically a scandal!"

"So? It's not like either of us have girlfriends that we're supposedly cheating on or anything. At least, I don't think so. Do you have a girlfriend, buchou?"

"No! That was why this whole thing happened in the first place!" He knew he was losing his cool, but Tezuka didn't like the sensation of not being in control of a situation.

"Oh, okay then. Well then, no harm done, right? There's nobody who'll take it the wrong way and get upset. The tabloids will just forget about it as soon as the next big thing happens. They always do."

Tezuka sat down with a sigh. "In that case, I'm relieved it was you there. I can't imagine how some of the others might have reacted."

"Heh, that would have been funny. But I can't see it. Would anyone believe that you'd go out with someone like Eiji or Inui?"

"They're quite ready to believe that I'd go out with you." And that was the clincher. That was what troubled him the most out of this whole affair, even more so than the potential storm of gossip. What was it about Echizen? Sure, they were rivals on the tennis court, and their personalities matched in certain aspects…. But what on earth made this situation so believable to everyone?

The phone trilled again with a different ring tone. Echizen threw it to the other side of the room. "Dammit! Now she's getting my father on my case too? C'mon, buchou, let's head downstairs. The others ought to be ready for dinner by now."

"I'll follow in a minute," he promised, mostly just so that the two of them wouldn't arrive together, further spurring on the out-of-control situation.

The question lingered uncomfortably at the back of his mind, though, even as Echizen shrugged and wandered out of the room. Why was it so believable? What had they done that could be misconstrued other than that one-off lie? What was he missing?

A trilling ring tone again pierced the silence. Sighing, Tezuka picked the discarded mobile phone up and turned it off without answering.


	7. Reading Between Lines

Author's Note: We've reached the halfway point. Huzzah!

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 7 – Reading Between Lines

By Sinnatious

* * *

After the third night, Tezuka had come to the conclusion that Echizen had the unfortunate habit of latching on to things while he slept. It didn't really help their already awkward position any to be waking up like this. 

Not that it really mattered. It wasn't like the others could see them. It made Tezuka uncomfortable though, so he regretfully left the warm bed and had a long shower. Echizen was actually awake and sitting up when he finished in the bathroom, though hadn't managed to move past the bed yet.

"You're up early," he observed.

"Practicing with the Golden Pair today," came the sleepy reply.

Of course. Tennis was the only thing capable of getting Echizen up at a reasonable hour of the morning.

"Bathroom's free. I'm heading down the lobby."

Inui and the Golden Pair were already in breakfast room when he arrived downstairs, taking advantage of the hotel's complimentary continental breakfast. Nodding a brief greeting as he entered, he gathered some food for himself and joined them at their table.

"Sleep well, Tezuka?" Oishi asked cheerily.

"Yes, thank you." It was a shame that it wasn't really possible to get a Japanese breakfast here, the tennis pro thought to himself absently. He'd been spoilt by his mother's cooking over the past few weeks, and it was always hard to adjust back to a travelling diet afterwards.

"Where's Ochibi?" Eiji asked.

"Still in our room, I expect. He was getting ready to come down when I left."

"Ah, yes, he agreed to help us train today," Oishi said. "We were just going to use the hotel tennis courts, though. Did you want to play too, Tezuka?"

"There's only one court, so I'll just watch today," he replied.

"Oh, but we don't want to get in the way of your own training… and it would be nice to play again…"

"I'll play you later in the week," he promised. "I was just going to do some image training today. Echizen needs the workout more than I do, I expect."

"Hmm, yes, that will certainly have to change. The previous schedule accommodated much more random bouts of intense training, which is not nearly as beneficial as a regular and consistent routine," Inui muttered under his breath, crouched over his notebook as he absently ate his cereal.

"We're going to head out onto the courts to warm up," Oishi announced, standing. "Let Echizen know where we are when he comes down, would you? And you're more than welcome to come participate. The more the merrier."

"Very well."

"Let's go, Oishi, nya!" Eiji declared, dragging his partner away.

"The previous schedule?" Tezuka asked curiously, turning back to Inui.

The data gatherer adjusted his glasses. "Last night when everyone was coming back from dinner, Echizen asked me if I would like to become his manager. I was quite surprised, honestly," Inui confided in him. "It was not a possibility I had considered."

"What did you say?" Tezuka asked, mildly shocked that the other pro had acted on his suggestion already.

"There are many details that need to be worked out, of course, but I gave him a tentative yes. I have found his current manager's scheduling skills to be unsatisfactory in assisting with the maintenance of Echizen's performance, and her management of travel bookings and monetary matters is in sore need of optimisation. Simple matters such as booking flights further in advance and ensuring that the hotels are close to the tennis courts can save up to 40 percent on travelling costs. I was actually going to suggest myself that Echizen find himself another manager, but since he has offered the position to me and I was seeking a potential career change, this seems like the best option all around."

"I'm glad to hear that." Tezuka had thought that it was something of an ideal job for Inui, since he still maintained his passion for tennis but didn't think becoming a pro himself was plausible. And he was perfect for the job. "What about your remaining studies, though?"

"I can easily do the last two units externally."

"So you're going to start right away?"

"Not immediately – Echizen has yet to inform his current manager of his decision. And of course, there is little point in discussing anything regarding the appointment until this fortnight is over - it is important that the two of you get to enjoy this rare holiday and relax, after all." The previous charitable thoughts Tezuka had been having vanished at the emphasis on 'the two of you'. Surely with his obsessive data gathering Inui should be aware of the truth by now? How much longer would it take for his friends to figure it out?

The thought occupied Tezuka even after Echizen came down for breakfast and everyone headed out to the hotel's tennis court – bar Momoshiro, Kaido and Kawamura, who'd decided to go on a mission to compare the local sushi restaurants to Kawamura Sushi. His friends' reactions really were a mystery, one that had been occupying him for days now. True, he and Echizen hung out fairly often while on the pro circuit, but that didn't usually extend beyond the odd training session or lunch. The younger pro had a tendency to stick to his side at events, or book the seat next to his when watching matches, but that made perfect sense as they both knew each other and were among the few high-level pros that spoke fluent Japanese. Even then, on those occasions they rarely talked about anything other than tennis. Any way he looked at it, their relationship couldn't be construed as anything other than that of camaraderie or old friends, even though Tezuka wasn't quite certain what to call their odd rivalry himself. In fact, even thinking about it was a little distressing. It wasn't something he normally dwelled upon, and when he did the inability to pigeon-hole his and Echizen's relationship into something as simple as friendship or professional rivalry was mildly irritating. Still, it definitely wasn't romantic. Of that, at least, Tezuka was sure. They hardly went around holding hands or eating at fancy restaurants or anything like that.

Where was it coming from, then? Before he'd turned pro, then? No, that was even less likely. He and Echizen had hardly ever associated outside of club activities during his school days. So where, then, had his friends acquired these 'ideas' about this non-existent relationship?

It was tempting to ask Inui about it, as the data-gatherer would no doubt have plenty to say about it, but he dismissed the matter for the time being. He could always ask later, after all, especially if he was going to become Echizen's manager. It appeared that in addition to Oishi and Eiji, they'd be seeing a lot more of Inui now too. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but Tezuka vaguely wondered if perhaps he'd shot himself in the foot by making that suggestion.

Sometime while he'd been deep in thought, Fuji had arrived. They were sitting by the edge of the court where Echizen was currently playing both Oishi and Eiji, and Inui was several paces away dutifully taking notes to help out the doubles pair close any potential gaps in their game before the tournament started. The Golden Pair were certainly giving Echizen a hard time, which was impressive even if the current number one had to cover twice the distance they did, but Echizen was still hopeless at doubles, so it was the only real way to play.

"Ne, Tezuka, Echizen is quite fit, isn't he?" Fuji remarked quite suddenly from where he stood next to him.

"Of course. Any pro athlete must be in a peak physical condition at all times."

"Saaa, it must be useful… to have that sort of stamina."

Tezuka didn't quite see where Fuji was going with this. "Indeed. Especially when you play a five set match that goes into a tie break."

Fuji just smiled at him. Well, Fuji was nearly always smiling, but his grin just became a little wider.

They watched a few more rallies, before Fuji commented again, "Echizen makes awfully cute grunts, don't you think? It certainly stirs up the imagination."

Tezuka choked. Fuji had been making thinly disguised comments a couple of days before, but was he really implying…

"He really is quite attractive. Especially when he stretches for the ball like that. He must be very flexible."

"Fuji." The tennis pro was certain he must be bright red.

"He certainly doesn't let his height disadvantage stop him."

Relieved that the conversation seemed to be steering back towards tennis, Tezuka just nodded agreement. "Though he isn't that much shorter."

"Just the right height, wouldn't you say, Tezuka?"

Then again, it was Fuji – you could never be certain when you were safe. "Fuji."

Ignoring him, the blue-eyed man continued, "And those shorts really do make his legs look longer, don't they?"

"Fuji. That's totally inappropriate."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you two weren't that comfortable, yet. It's just that I can't imagine two such healthy young men such as yourselves being able to keep your hands-"

"And that's the end of the match." Inui suddenly announced, snapping his notebook shut abruptly.

Tezuka wanted to ask who won, but was embarrassed to admit that Fuji's lewd comments had distracted him from keeping score. He also didn't want to admit that he'd completely forgotten to watch how the Golden Pair had performed towards the end. Fortunately, he was spared from having to ask when Oishi shook Ryoma's hand at the court exit. "Still can't win against you," the gentle man said with a light laugh.

"Che, it was a fun game," Echizen said, between his heavy breaths. The fact that the Golden Pair had managed to drive him to that state alone was testament to their ability. They'd do well in professional tennis.

"Heh, we'll beat you by the end of the week, Ochibi," a puffed Eiji declared.

Echizen just smirked, but the unspoken challenge remained in the air, clearly stating that the doubles players were welcome to try.

"My, Echizen's panting hard," Fuji practically whispered next to his ear, not quite loud enough for anyone but him to hear.

"Fuji!"

"What?" the genius asked innocently.

Everyone looked over at his admonishment, and Tezuka found himself unable to chastise his friend properly without having to explain the reasons why. "Never mind." The blue-eyed genius cocked his head, though, looking vaguely contemplative.

Echizen _was_ panting hard, though, and now that Fuji had planted the suggestion in his head it was making Tezuka feel distinctly uncomfortable. It was odd, thinking of his rival in such a manner. He handed the teen his water bottle, in hopes that it would help.

"Thanks buchou," the sharp-eyed youth said breathily, which did nothing to dispel the images that were now plaguing his mind. Instead of drinking, though, Echizen closed his eyes and promptly dumped half of the water over his head, causing small rivulets of clear liquid to trickle down his neck and chin and soak his shirt that then in turn clung to his body, outlining the pro's supple form. Tezuka found himself swallowing and forcefully tearing his eyes aware, not wanting his roommate to catch him staring.

What was wrong with him? Curse Fuji, for forcing him to think of his former protégé in such a way.

He'd never thought that he was gay, but it appeared from the effect the sight was having on him, he might have to re-examine that stance, too.

No, it was just Fuji playing tricks on him. He shook his head briefly as though to dispel the images within.

"Ah, I'm tired," Oishi exclaimed. "That was a really good workout."

"What are you going to do now?" Fuji asked.

"Oishi, we should go look at those tapes Inui gave us!" Eiji suggested. Even though his words were enthusiastic, he was practically being held up by his doubles partner. It appeared that even after all these years, stamina was still the acrobat's weakest point.

"Good idea, Eiji. Would everyone like to come?" he asked politely. "Inui brought us some tapes of some of the people we can expect to go up against, and some more opinions wouldn't go astray."

"I'll certainly come. Fuji?" Inui asked.

"Saa, I'm going to go take some more photographs. There's some interesting topography around here."

"Tezuka? Echizen?"

"I'll come up later," Tezuka promised. "I want to do some drills first."

"Hmm, I'll stick around and practice with buchou," the teen commented, tugging on his cap.

"You want your game now?" Tezuka asked in sudden recollection. Fuji perked up at that, for some reason. "I think your Ponta will have to wait until we get back to Japan. I haven't seen the grape kind here." For all the trouble it had caused, he DID still owe Echizen for going along with his initial lie and getting his cousin's friend off his back.

The sharp-eyed teen just smirked. "No, I think I might hold it in reserve for now."

He might have guessed. His fellow pro always called him up to train at completely random times, and heaven forbid he ask for a game when it suited the other party. It would be fun explaining to his coach why exactly he'd be breaking on his 'no full-length unofficial games with Echizen' agreement during the season. "You'll at least not ask for it during a tournament, right?"

His companion didn't respond, but he was relatively certain the other pro wouldn't pull that card on him, at least. Echizen might not believe in waiting for official matches the same way he did, but the teen had much more decorum than when he'd been in school. It probably had something to do with defeating his father at last.

That had certainly been an odd time. He'd just graduated from high school, and was making preparations for entering the pro circuit when Echizen had just turned up on his doorstep, looking like the world had ended. He'd spent two nights sleeping in their guest room before wandering off without ever explaining himself beyond his initial proclamation. A week later he'd turned up again, demanding a match. Given the situation, Tezuka had agreed, though found it odd given that Echizen had already defeated him plenty of times. To his own surprise, though, he won after a long tie-break. Then the teen had given him a funny sort of smile and left the court without saying a word – not even a self-depreciating 'mada mada da ne'. A year later, Echizen forwent his last year of high school to enter the pro circuit as well. He won their first scheduled match together, and seemed unhappy. Tezuka improved and won the next one, and Echizen had actually smiled - a real, genuine smile - at him. They'd been rivals – or something like it - ever since.

In retrospect, maybe that had been Echizen's problem with his father. Nanjiro Echizen wasn't capable of being a rival, since he hadn't improved in so long. Once he'd been defeated, there were no more goals for his son to overcome. He, on the other hand, could keep pace with Ryoma. And so long as there was always one person who Echizen didn't know he could beat, one promise of a challenge, his interest remained.

"Buchou?"

"Yes?" he asked, not wanting to admit that he'd been so wrapped up in his reminiscence that he hadn't been paying attention. At least reminiscing was safer than staring at the drops of water trickling down the other pro's neck.

"Why does Fuji keep winking at me?"


	8. Outside the Comfort Zone

Author's Note: In this chapter, Ryoma is finally made uncomfortable. Next chapter is where the real fun begins.

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 8 – Outside the Comfort Zone

By Sinnatious

* * *

Tezuka spent most of the rest of the evening, night, and a good chunk of the morning running the issue through his head over and over again. Since his reactions the day before, it had becoming a burning need to understand. Yet no matter how many different angles he looked at it, he still couldn't see where his friends had found evidence of their relationship. But there had to be something, otherwise they never would have leapt to the conclusion that the two of them were dating based on the tail-end of that one fib, or at least would have shown some shock or SOMETHING. 

Even after investing so much thought in the matter, though, the tennis pro was at a loss. So he finally caved and invited Oishi to lunch that day, intending to ask him about it. Fortunately, the others all seemed to have their own plans, so it wasn't hard to get his old friend alone for what he expected to be a mildly humiliating conversation.

Their talk was casual to begin with, centred mostly around tennis and the upcoming tournament. Towards the end of lunch, though, Tezuka sprung the question, hoping that the mere act of asking it wouldn't cement the notion further in the well-meaning doubles player's brain. "Oishi, there's something that's been bothering me, and I was hoping you might be able to explain it to me."

"What? Something's bothering you? Tezuka, you know you can come to me with anything right? You arm is okay, isn't it? Your schedule isn't too stressful? Problems with your coach? Oh, you and Echizen didn't have a fight did you?" Oishi fretted. Of course, that was the problem with talking with his old friend. Sometimes the gentle man could get ahead of himself. If anything, his mothering had become worse over the years, instead of better.

"My arm and tennis are both fine. My issue is with Echizen."

"Oh, you two ARE fighting? I did think it was a little odd that you hadn't been sitting together and whatnot."

"No we're not…," Tezuka started, but gave up. They weren't fighting, but they weren't going out either. Rather than repeat himself in futility, he continued, "My issue… or rather, question, is as to why everyone is so accepting of this notion that the two of us are in some sort of… relationship." The words themselves felt foreign on Tezuka's tongue. "Nobody was even surprised by the idea. Why is that? Why was everyone so willing to believe that Echizen and I would be going out?"

His friend grinned, seeming relieved that the issue wasn't something more serious. His answer was then surprisingly simple. "You're the only one who can reign him in, of course."

Tezuka almost dropped his fork at that. He cursed his recent lack of composure for what felt like the millionth time that week, managing to ground out a surprised "What?" without squeaking.

Oishi laughed. "You mean even though you two got together you never even noticed?" Tezuka forwent the usual corrections in the interest of getting an answer. "Have you ever seen Echizen listen to anyone else? His manager will spend hours bullying him into going to a press conference, but one word from you and he's there immediately. Inui couldn't get him to keep to the training acumen he'd set up at all until you'd suggested that it was a good one. He'll adjust for even the smallest things you say! It's sort of cute, though don't tell Echizen I said that. I'm surprised it was bothering you. Sorry, it's just been sort of obvious for everyone else. Inevitable, maybe. You two are off in your own world all the time, it just seemed like a reasonable conclusion."

Tezuka was too busy mentally reeling in shock to respond. He had no idea that his effect over the younger pro was so powerful, but now that Oishi had pointed it out, he could see that it was true. Echizen typically didn't listen to anyone, but he was always obedient when the elder pro stepped in. Was it just habit from when he'd been captain? But that was years ago! The thought that even his careless words could have that sort of effect on Ryoma was rather humbling. He'd never honestly believed that the youth respected him that much.

Though Echizen _had_ asked Inui to be his manager mere hours after Tezuka had suggested it. Had that just been coincidence, or…?

"And, of course, at the same time Echizen is the only one who ever challenges you," Oishi continued thoughtfully. "Not just in tennis, though certainly there is that to think about. He makes you think. He pushes you, makes you step outside of your comfort zone when no one else can. And the two of you have always got along so well, too."

"But surely… that alone isn't enough to make you think that we're… you know?" Tezuka croaked, finding his voice again at last.

"Well, no, I guess not," Oishi conceded, oblivious to the chaos his words had unleashed upon his friend. "Maybe it was just because neither of you showed the least bit of interest in girls? And there was the lavender shirts…" Tezuka had no idea what his wardrobe had to with it, but didn't dare interrupt. "I guess eventually we started to assume you were gay, and then from there it was a small leap to assume that the two of you would eventually get together. I guess it might not have been so simple for you two, though, right? Say, how did it all happen? You still haven't told any of us exactly how long you've been together, or when you finally realised your own feelings."

There weren't any feelings to realise – or at least, he didn't think there were. His reactions to Fuji's lewd comments the day before had left him suddenly doubtful. Tezuka just shook his head, unable to trust his voice. He'd been expecting the whole 'never been interested in girls' deal – tabloid writers had tried to pose the question often enough – but Oishi had thrown him a real curveball in regards to Echizen's behaviour.

"Oh, of course, it's probably very personal. Sorry," his friend apologised hurriedly. "But… you aren't having problems, are you?"

Tezuka very nearly laughed. "Just the one." _We're not actually dating_. "Thank you for lunch, and your time. I expect Kikumaru will be waiting for you by now. You'll be wanting to get back to training."

"Oh, you're right, look at the time! I'm late! Sorry Tezuka, I've got to run!"

The doubles player all but dashed out of the diner, thankfully leaving the pro alone with his thoughts. It was absurd. Surely Echizen didn't treat him that differently to all the others? It was just habitual respect, left over from the days where he was captain of the tennis team.

Eventually, he shook himself from his introspection and returned to the hotel. To his surprise, the room wasn't empty. His roommate – the other half of his current predicament - was fussing about in the kitchenette. A video of a tennis match – it looked to be from last year's French Open – was playing on the TV. Just his luck, the focus of his troubles – innocent though he may be – just _had_ to choose today to lounge about the room.

"Echizen," he greeted, still somewhat in a daze. "What are you doing in here?"

"Buchou? Back already?"

"I thought you'd be out with Momoshiro again."

"Che, he and Kaido spent the whole morning arguing. Got bored. Borrowed some of Inui's videos. Want to watch?"

It probably wouldn't help his already terribly damaged credibility to keep hanging out with his supposed significant other, but nor did he want to deal with Fuji or Inui while his world was still spinning. Watching a match on TV was probably the best way to put the issue out of his mind. "Okay."

"You want something to drink?"

"Oh, I'll get it," he offered, half-rising from his seat which he didn't even remember taking.

"Already here. I'll take care of it." The teen removed the electric jug of boiling water, fishing for a mug. Tezuka attention was temporarily stolen away by a rally on the screen.

"Here," Echizen said, placing his cup in front of him. Tezuka accepted it with an absent-minded nod, taking an appreciative sip. It was his favourite blend, and just the right strength - so much so that he paused.

"You got it perfect," he remarked to the younger tennis player, who was in the process of opening his own can of Ponta. He didn't know where the youth had found it – he hadn't seen grape flavoured Ponta anywhere other than Japan yet. Probably wasted suitcase space bringing it with him.

The youth shrugged. "It's how you like it, isn't it?" His attention was almost wholly fixed on the match occurring on the television in front of them.

It was, and that was why it was so remarkable. It was so close to how he normally blended it that he could have made it himself. Echizen was that observant?

He supposed it stood to reason, considering that they'd been spending a fair amount of time together on the circuit for the past two years, but even then, his companion had never struck him as the sort to pay attention to things like that - or rather, to pay attention to anything but tennis. Oishi's words came back to haunt him once again. Was it really true?

Over the rest of the day, while they watched tennis matches on TV and then later went out with the others, Tezuka began noticing other instances he found almost odd - little gestures from his roommate that he hadn't ever noticed but surprised him when he did. They were all small things that Echizen seemed to do almost automatically - such as rewinding and replaying all of the exact shots he wanted to see again in the video without having to exchange any words, handing him the sauces he wanted at dinner without him even having to ask – he hadn't managed to grab the seat at the opposite end of the table on this excursion - or keeping the space at the end of the couch free for him, just as he preferred. Were these things Echizen had always done, and he was only noticing now that they'd been brought to his attention?

What was he supposed to make of a revelation like that? At least now he had some notion as to where perhaps his friends had found some evidence of a relationship to base their assumptions on, however tenuous that proof was, but what could he really do about it? It wasn't like he could just ask Echizen to stop, especially since the teen seemed to perform these little gestures of uncharacteristic thoughtfulness almost automatically. At least, he assumed it was automatic, given the young tennis star's careless attitude while doing them.

Not to mention he still hadn't had the chance to really examine his odd reaction to Fuji's teasing words the day before, even though they still lingered at the back of his mind. It had actually taken quite a bit of self-control to resist stealing glances at his roommate when they'd been watching videos that afternoon, and it unsettled him. Even now, as they ate, his eyes automatically slid to the side, before the sight of Fuji talking to Echizen quickly forced his gaze away again.

What were they talking about? Over the din of the restaurant they were eating at, it was hard to hear the hushed conversation, words getting lost in the background clatter of plates and conversations from neighbouring tables. That smile was one he had come to associate with the blue-eyed man making jokes at someone else's expense - but Echizen was somehow managing to look completely uninterested in the conversation. Probably the perfect foil to ward off that particular brand of subtle teasing. Tezuka was curious as to what they were talking about, but knew better than to interfere. Instead he settled for distracting himself by talking with Kawamura for the rest of the meal about his plans for his restaurant.

All too soon, it seemed, the meal was over and they were leaving. It was still quite early in the evening, and Tezuka realised with a start that he'd probably wind up spending the rest of the night watching videos with Echizen in their hotel room at the current rate – the younger pro had already insinuated as much. While that seemed a pleasant enough activity, he had not yet forgotten his earlier vow to temporarily put distance between the two of them in order to avoid fuelling the rumour mill's fire any further. Spending an evening cooped up alone in their hotel room would look suspicious to almost anyone, especially when they'd already been watching videos all afternoon.

"It is still early," Inui piped up suddenly from behind him. "And I've been curious to visit an American bar. There's one on the way back from the hotel – perhaps we could stop and check it out?"

"Excellent idea, Inui," Fuji congratulated, then tilted his head in a thoughtful manner. "…But isn't the drinking age here twenty-one?"

Oishi, Eiji and Takashi had all perked up at the suggestion, and looked worriedly to the youngest three of their number. "Well, we wouldn't want to leave anyone out…," Oishi began hesitantly.

"Maybe we can sneak them in, nya!" Eiji suggested with a wicked grin.

"Kikumaru," Tezuka chastised, feeling obligated to step in before they started breaking laws. Even if it was only a minor misdemeanour, he hardly wanted to be party to it.

"Che, who wants to go to a bar anyway?" Echizen muttered dismissively, already wandering away.

"Oh, Echizen, wait just a moment," Fuji called, jogging over to him.

"Fssshuuuu, let us know what it's like," Kaido hissed, similarly stalking away, leaving Momo no choice but to follow, grumbling vocally about differing alcohol laws in different countries. Oishi was fretting about leaving them out, but the others had already forgotten, discussing with Inui the location of the establishment. Tezuka wasn't particularly fond of the practice of partaking in alcohol, but it was currently better than the alternative – and he wouldn't mind trying something different. Fuji rejoined the group several moments later. At his friends' inquisitive glances, he merely replied, "Just had to give something to Echizen."

Tezuka didn't really want to know, especially given the way Fuji was smiling.

The bar Inui spoke of was pleasant – it wasn't too crowded, and the music was just loud enough to discourage much in the way of close conversation but not so raucous as to leave him with a headache. The lighting was a little dim, but there wasn't much smoke and the floors were clean despite the grunginess of the entranceway. The rowdier members of the group told loud jokes, and even though it wasn't the sort of activity Tezuka ever liked partaking in, he found himself relaxing in the atmosphere – though not enough to forget to guard his drink from his friends. Close association with Fuji and Inui over the years could foster paranoia in even the most easy-going of individuals, especially when it came to beverages.

"Tezuka, you should try this one," Fuji suggested, sliding some electric green concoction his way as though the mere thought had summoned him.

"I'm quite fond of this one, actually," he responded firmly, clutching his glass a little closer.

"Oh? Top it up, then?"

"Hardly. I'm not even halfway through." Tezuka took another small sip of his drink, and nodded to Inui to show that he was listening to him prattle off data about Eiji's level of alcohol tolerance.

Yes, it was a mildly enjoyable evening, going out drinking with friends, even if Kikumaru got drunk and rowdy awfully quickly, and Fuji kept trying to refill his glass. He rather suspected his friend was trying very hard to get him drunk, but ever since his graduation he'd learned the art of how to nurse a drink and avoid getting intoxicated. Especially when someone as manipulative as the former prodigy seemed so very interested in achieving that goal.

When Kikumaru managed to knock over his drink for the second time in a row, Oishi decided it was time to leave – no doubt dreading the prospect of having to train when his partner had a hangover. They left the bar quite late, with only the hyperactive doubles player seeming to be feeling the effects of the alcohol, though Kawamura was being a little louder than his usual meek self. Tezuka himself had only the slightest of buzzes, and felt mildly proud that he'd been able to resist Fuji's not-so-subtle attempts at manipulation, if his friend's mildly disappointed demeanour was anything to go by.

So soothing the time out had been that Tezuka had briefly forgotten the issues that had been plaguing his thoughts for most of the day – that was, until he finally returned to the hotel room.

Echizen had been sitting on the bed dressed in the hotel's white complimentary bathrobe, but hurriedly slammed the bedside draw shut when he entered the room. Even though it had only been a glimpse, it looked like he had been contemplating something.

"What is it?" he asked, not bothering with a greeting. It was odd behaviour from the teen.

"It's nothing." the young pro said quickly, picking up his racket from where it sat next to the bed and plucking at the strings to look busy – never mind how ridiculous it was to be checking your strings before you went to bed.

Tezuka didn't believe him for an instant. Striding over purposefully, he opened the drawer before Echizen could react. Strangely, it was entirely empty... except for one bottle of lavender oil.

"Fuji gave it to me," his roommate mumbled, looking highly uncomfortable and face turning bright red.

Oh.

_Oh._

Tezuka was sure that he too must be sporting a blush by now. This must have been what Fuji was talking to Echizen about earlier. And then… had he been trying to get him drunk to…

Surely even Fuji wouldn't go that far! Teasing him with lewd comments was one thing, but this was entirely inappropriate!

"Don't pay him any mind," he eventually managed, though it was a trying task to keep his voice level. Carefully, he placed the bottle back in the drawer and shut it. Out of sight, out of mind. "I'm going to go have a shower."

When he climbed into bed that night though, he was extra careful to stay on his side. At the rate this holiday was going, Tezuka was rather sure that he was going to be more tired afterwards than if he'd never gone at all.


	9. Realising the Obvious

Author's Note: Rather short chapter this time around, sorry. Next chapter will be longer to make up for it.

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 9 – Realising the Obvious

By Sinnatious

* * *

Tezuka awoke with a start, barely holding in his gasp. For a moment he was wildly disorientated, uncertain of where exactly he was. It certainly wasn't his bedroom in Japan. A hotel then. That thought took a few moments to process. Yes, definitely a hotel – he could spy a smudge of a generic-looking painting on the far wall that all hotels seemed to decorate their rooms with. The light on the walls, peeking in past the edges of the drawn blinds, indicated it was early morning – he should check the time. He felt around for his glasses, but his hand landed on a warm body instead. 

That was when it all came rushing back to him – where he was, everything that had occurred over the past few days, and most importantly of all, the dream he'd just had.

Over the past couple of nights he'd become somewhat used to Echizen snuggling up against his side while he was sleeping - the rhythm of his gentle breathing even often came dangerously close to lulling him back to sleep, and the warmth pressed against his side was comfortable. Today, though, Tezuka couldn't extract himself from bed fast enough. It was only through exercising his supreme self-control that he managed to move slowly enough to avoid waking the other occupant. Thankfully Echizen was a heavy sleeper - today was certainly the very last day he ever wanted the teen to wake up early.

Once free from the blankets, Tezuka practically ran to the bathroom, hopped under the shower and turned the 'cold' handle on as far as it would go. He stood there for several minutes under the chilling water, cursing Fuji – for lack of any other target - for his misfortune. Eventually, when his feet began to grow numb and he'd firmly entrenched himself back into reality again, he turned the hot water on as well, not wanting to risk catching a cold, and stood there for another ten minutes.

Tezuka didn't have dreams like… _that_… very often. In fact, he couldn't really remember having any since early high school, and even those weren't terribly clear in his memory. So it was a profound shock that not only had he had one of _those_ dreams last night, but he'd had it about _Echizen. Who he happened to be currently sharing a bed with_.

For the second time that day, he thanked his lucky stars that Echizen was such a heavy sleeper.

It took a while before he finally felt composed enough to leave the shower. When he did eventually emerge, it was still early and predictably, his roommate was still asleep. Tezuka quietly made some tea in the kitchenette and sat down in the chair across from the bed, staring contemplatively at the young tennis pro. The blankets were bunched up around his shoulders, and green-black locks of hair framed his face. His lips were slightly parted as he breathed softly and steadily. At that point in time, Tezuka was immensely jealous of his peaceful slumber.

He sat there watching for what felt like a long time, just staring at that familiar face as though seeing it for the first time. This whole issue… it was so out of control now that even he had been swept up with it. It had to be because of Fuji's leading comments. It had put… _thoughts_ into his head that he had no right to be having about the other man!

When Echizen started to show signs of stirring, he left the room, not wanting to face those sharp hazel eyes in his current state. More time was needed to think. More importantly, he was intending to have harsh words with Fuji – both for the stunt the night before and in retribution for what his lewd comments were doing to his innocent mind.

Alas, Fuji was scarce all morning – or rather, he was always within eyesight of Echizen, meaning that Tezuka didn't venture near. The thought of looking the other pro in the eyes so soon after that dream made him highly uncomfortable – it wasn't until lunch time that he'd managed to shove the whispered words and tantalising images to the back of his mind where they belonged. His face burned at even the memory. He'd already acknowledged that there was physical attraction to be had in regards to Echizen, but he hadn't pursued the thought any further than the rationalization that perhaps he _might_ have inclinations towards his own gender. To suddenly be confronted with vivid fantasies that he'd given his imagination no permission to create was discomfiting.

After lunch, everyone gathered at the nearby tennis courts they'd discovered – seeing as the hotel only had a single court and the venue was currently off-limits to everyone except those participating in the upcoming event, it had become necessary to locate a more appropriate place where everyone could play. Echizen and Inui were currently running the Golden Pair through some drills, while Kawamura and Momoshiro played a match one court over. Kaido had left for a run, apparently keeping up with his stringent fitness routine even after high school. That left only Fuji watching on the stands beside the court. Tezuka, still not quite certain what he was going to say, only that he felt that _someone _should bear the brunt of his ire for such a grievous turn of a events, quietly walked over and sat down next to the other man.

"Fuji."

"Ah, Tezuka, I was wondering where you'd gotten to. You've haven't been around much this morning." Because he'd been avoiding his roommate, but Fuji didn't need to know that.

They watched two rallies in silence before Tezuka finally stated, "You really shouldn't have done that to Echizen."

"Done what?"

That was a game he refused to play. "You already know."

His friend seemed to be pick up on his seriousness, opening his eyes to glance sideways at him. "Oh, that? I was just telling him to take precautions. Any good friend would do the same." Tezuka had forgotten at some point that Fuji was the exact sort of person who would repeatedly tap a hornet's nest just to see what would happen. He liked to think himself a little more intelligent than a hornet, however, and resisted rising to the bait.

"You made him uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry. But are you sure you don't mean I made _you_ uncomfortable?"

Tezuka refused to give that statement the dignity of a response, however accurate it may have been. They sat there in silent stalemate for a few more minutes, the stillness punctuated only by the pounding of feet on the tennis court and the heavy 'thwack' of tennis balls.

Finally, he asked, "Why?" The question was spoken more to himself than his companion, but Fuji answered anyway.

"I just couldn't leave you two alone." This was said with a wide grin. "And it seemed a good opportunity to bring it up."

"That wasn't the question I was really asking."

At that, Fuji opened his eyes again, expression briefly serious. "Oh." Then… "Ah, I see. It appears I may owe you an apology after all."

It was such an unexpected and incredibly perplexing answer that Tezuka actually turned to look at his friend properly. But Fuji's eyes were closed and he was smiling once again. "Fuji?"

"Saa, it looks like they'll be finishing up, soon. Kawamura and I were going to play against the Golden Pair next. I'd better go warm up." The prodigy stood and started walking away, but after a few steps he paused and looked back, commenting airily, "You know, Tezuka, instead of focusing on what your relationship is perceived as being, maybe you should focus more on what your relationship actually is?"

What?

It took a moment to process those words. What their relationship was perceived as being….?

Suddenly, it felt as though time had stopped. It took a moment for Tezuka to even remember to breathe.

Fuji KNEW.

Fuji Syuusuke, counted as one of his best friends, KNEW that he and Ryoma weren't going out. KNEW that it had been a misunderstanding. Of that, there was no doubt. What else could those words mean?

Yet the blue-eyed genius stayed silent. To what end? How long had he known? Even one voice of dissent, pointing out the obvious, would have been enough to convince the others. But instead, his old friend seemed to delight in putting he and Ryoma into increasingly awkward situations - ones so awkward that even the stoic Echizen had started to show some embarrassment and discomfort. He'd even gone so far as to give Echizen lavender oil and try to get him drunk on the same night! Was it all just a big prank, or did Fuji have some grand master plan in mind?

Knowing his old classmate, probably both.

His immediate instinct was to call the manipulative man back and interrogate him, but Fuji was already sashaying towards Kawamura on the next court, tennis racket in hand. They could hardly talk now. Besides, he should have known that Fuji would figure things out eventually, though it was surprising that Inui hadn't caught on first. So instead, his mind turned to the words his friend had left behind.

…What their relationship really was?

What was Fuji trying to suggest? He'd tried that line of thought before. Their relationship couldn't simply be pigeon-holed. It was far too complex, far too emotional, far too contradicting to really make sense of it. Unless...

Though it was painful to admit it, Fuji was right - in a way. He'd been trying to categorize his and Echizen's relationship based on other people's norms - the sort of behaviour that other people expected of rivals, colleagues or old friends. And his persistent inability to succeed at that endeavour had proven its hopelessness. But had he ever stopped to consider what HE thought of Echizen as? What _his_ emotions towards the younger man were?

The teen in question was coming off the court, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the towel draped around his shoulders. The sunlight caught the tips of his hair, causing it to shine in a sort of halo effect. Tezuka felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Heh, the Golden Pair really are going to take this tournament by storm at this rate," the young pro remarked, tugging his trademark white cap back on. "What are you doing, buchou? Not playing today?"

"Perhaps later," he replied automatically, throat feeling strangely dry. Whispers and images crowded back in at the edges of his consciousness, clamouring for his attention once again.

Echizen didn't reply to that, merely settling himself next to Tezuka on the metal stands, watching in silence as Fuji and Kawamura stepped up to take his place on the court. It wasn't fair to pit out-of-practice amateurs against a pair going pro, but hopefully three-on-two would make it a good challenge for the Golden Pair. It would be good endurance training, if nothing else.

After a moment, the repetitive thud of tennis balls hitting clay and racquets resumed, backed by the squeaks of shoes and the distant rustling of leaves in a light breeze. Fuji would be able to use all three of his signature moves today.

"Hn," Echizen muttered after the first few points. "Mada mada da ne."

Then it was as though all those background sounds vanished, and all he could hear was Echizen's steady breath.

It was as though those familiar words, spoken in that same deadpan tone of voice that Tezuka must have heard a thousand times by now, finally clicked everything into place.

It wasn't even much of a revelation when the realisation dawned on him. It was more as though he'd simply found the answer to an obvious problem that had been staring him in the face for a long time. It was the sort of understanding that made you feel incredibly stupid in retrospection.

Echizen was his most important person. And he had been for a long while now.

That wasn't all, either. It was time to admit it to himself. He was attracted to the other man.

Tezuka only barely resisted the urge to start hitting himself on the head with his own racket.


	10. Resisting Temptation

Author's Note: I never honestly thought I'd ever write this kind of fic, but it's turning out to be rather fun. Thanks for all of the reviews, by the way. There were a lot of exasperated 'finally!'s, hee hee hee.

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 10 – Resisting Temptation

By Sinnatious

* * *

Needless to say, Tezuka didn't sleep well that night. It was sort of hard to relax when you were so conscious of the person sharing the bed with you. In his effort to maintain what he felt to be a modest distance, he practically fell off the edge. And it didn't help he spent a great deal of the night coming terms with the fact that not only was he gay – though that personal revelation didn't cause him as much turmoil as he expected it would, perhaps having become used to the idea after the endless insinuations made by his friends and the media – but that he had a crush on _Echizen_ of all people. 

Then when he did finally sleep, he had _those_ dreams again. And woke up in the centre of the bed with one of Echizen's arms slung over his side anyway.

The sun wasn't even up, but he got up to have a cold shower immediately. It was a fine time for his mostly dormant hormones to suddenly become active.

A long early morning jog calmed him enough to manage to behave normally at breakfast with everyone, even though Inui immediately noted a five percent drop in his accuracy when he ran through some drills at the tennis court later. Echizen had smirked, muttering something about not getting careless. Tezuka couldn't bring himself to reply.

They did some drills together before the elder pro used his ringing phone on the sidelines as a reason to excuse himself – it was just his coach asking a question to resolve a potential scheduling conflict. After that, he settled himself in the stands, just watching.

The young tennis player had suddenly found himself hyper-aware of his companion after his little personal epiphany. Certainly he'd always paid attention to Echizen before, able to remember in great detail their many conversations and encounters over the years, but that focus had both sharpened and shifted remarkably since the whole debacle had unfolded. The idea had been planted firmly in his head, now, and the tennis star couldn't help his eyes following the sinuous grace of Ryoma's movements around the court, suddenly no longer analysing strategy or trajectories but instead inspecting the curve of the back of the youth's neck, the slight parting of his lips as he drew breath and the way the tufts of green-black hair poking out from under his cap shone as they caught the sunlight.

It was torturous. Instinctively, he railed against his traitorous thoughts - Echizen was a friend now, but a large part of him still felt as though he were a twelve-year old under his care as team captain, rather than a nineteen year-old rival on the professional circuit. They were comrades, and these thoughts felt like a violation of the easy trust that had developed between them. What would Echizen think if he knew that his level-headed former captain had suddenly started indulging in decidedly risqué fantasies involving him?

Even as he resisted, though, trying to shake the images from his mind and tear his eyes away, Tezuka had to admit that it was fighting a losing battle. As practiced as he was at denying his hormones, the urges were already so strong that he was worried that he might forget himself and say or do something to give it all away. What was even worse was that they still had over a week of sharing a room – and more importantly, a bed - left.

Tezuka was almost scared. Emotions weren't something he ever really had to deal with. His world was ruled by logic and level-headed reasoning, almost as much as Inui's was. He didn't like the way his emotions were suddenly prompting him to do things he'd never even pictured himself doing before, but at the same time felt powerless to stop it. What could he do? The only option to make it go away was to avoid Echizen entirely, and not only was that currently impossible, he really didn't want to. Worse, if he didn't sort this issue out somehow, it would affect him when they next played tennis.

Taking a deep breath, he centred his focus. He'd been panicking too much lately, and it was clouding his judgement. What did he want?

That was easy. Echizen. There was no point denying it – as it was, it felt like he'd been denying it for long enough.

So the real question then, was – what did Echizen want?

That was the real clincher, wasn't it? Remarkably, suddenly he wasn't even remotely interested in dissuading his friends' fraudulent beliefs in a non-existent relationship, but ironically was looking for a way to make those beliefs come true.

Was it impossible? Echizen hadn't treated him at all differently throughout this whole debacle, but then, Oishi had pointed out already that the other pro treated him differently to everybody else. Dare he hope…?

It wouldn't be right to assume, though. His companion just seemed so innocent sometimes – Tezuka didn't think he'd once heard a dirty joke come from the other boy's mouth, despite the filth that seemed to pour from his father's in any of the few instances he'd been within earshot of the elder Echizen. Even if he tried to flirt – though it was hard to picture himself doing so - as some sort of means of harmlessly gauging interest, every scenario he imagined with Echizen seemed to result in a baffled stare or a deadpan 'mada mada da ne'. Needless to say, he wasn't eager to try any of them out.

So that left him in this awkward limbo, where he was relatively certain of his own burgeoning feelings, but unwilling to risk losing it all on a gamble. And worse, his temptation was being dangled endlessly in front of his face. His only solace was that Fuji had apparently already had his fun and had left him alone ever since his cryptic comments the day before. Perhaps his friend had decided that he'd done enough damage for the time being. Turning someone's entire world upside-down in the space of a day was a pretty amazing feat, after all.

He shook himself and returned to the hotel, intent on holing up with a book for the afternoon – he couldn't be expected to concentrate on tennis with Echizen's '_cute grunts'_ – as Fuji had so vividly described – ringing in his ears. At least there, he ought to be able to think in peace.

Most of the afternoon was spent reading books or pretending to read books while thinking about Echizen. Eventually, it grew close to dinner, and Tezuka hastily left the room, knowing that his roommate would coming back to change. His guess proved right when he encountered the teen in the hallway.

"Coming to dinner buchou?" the younger pro asked as he fished for his card key.

"Yes. I'll see you down in the lobby with everyone else later," Tezuka tonelessly replied, sliding past and trying not to react when the back of his hand brushed Echizen's arm.

He already had it bad. The next week and a half was going to be agony!

The elevator stopped two floors down, and Inui stepped in with him. "Ah, Tezuka, I was hoping to run into you."

"Inui," he greeted cordially. "What for?"

"Well, I did say that it would be a few weeks before I took over as Echizen's manager, but I was hoping that you might be able to answer some questions…"

"You'd be better off asking Echizen himself," he interrupted.

That momentarily stymied the data-gatherer. Tezuka saw him blink behind those thick glasses. "Ah, of course." He flipped his notebook open – a smaller, less conspicuous spiral pad he usually used when they were going out in public – and drew a pen from his pocket. "Echizen and Tezuka insist on maintaining professional independence. Inconvenient, but realistic, given your on-court rivalry…"

Tezuka tuned him out. He was hardly bothered by his friends' misconceptions anymore – the lie had been repeated to him so frequently that it was started to feel true.

"Inui," he asked suddenly, as they sat on the couches in the hotel's lobby. "How do you tell if someone is interested in you?"

That temporarily stayed the scribble of pen on paper. "Excuse me, Tezuka?"

"You know… romantically," he expanded, only vaguely aware of how incredibly left-fielded his query must have seemed.

Indeed, it did briefly stump the data-gatherer. "Why do you ask? Are you having problems with someone?"

"Something like that," was the vague reply.

"Does Echizen know?"

Echizen _was_ the problem. "No."

Brow furrowed, Inui mulled over that for a moment, before muttering, "Probability of Tezuka cheating on Echizen is supposed to only be-"

"There's no cheating," he interrupted. "It's more of a… it's the sort of situation where if I confront someone on it wrongly it could create a misunderstanding."

"Oh. Very well then." Inui seemed to have been convinced by that – likely assuming that there was a third party Tezuka was worried about leading on. "This individual… what sort of temperament do they have?"

He could hardly describe Echizen's temperament without giving it all away. "Well, they're not very expressive," he hedged, trying to be vague so as not to be completely obvious. "Which is where my problem lies."

"I see. So you've already concluded that the regular methods of gauging interest will return dubious results at best," the data gatherer mused thoughtfully, pen tapping his chin. "And you cannot ask directly… how do they react when you're with Echizen? Or does this party not know about that relationship?"

"They've never been in contact," Tezuka lied. That one untruth three weeks ago had led to him telling the most lies he'd ever told in his life.

"Hmm, that rules out one method… has this person ever given you any gifts?"

"You mean, like flowers?"

"If it were flowers, you wouldn't need to ask about it," Inui replied, clearly amused. "Even for a normal occasion, like your birthday or Christmas." Then muttered under his breath, "This would be so much easier if there was just a name…"

Tezuka pretended not to hear. "Yes, I've received birthday and Christmas presents from them." During school years, all of the regulars tended to pitch in together to get each other gifts, but once they'd left gift-giving had become an individual affair.

"How expensive were the gifts, then? Generally, one will not go beyond a certain measure of expense for merely friendly gifts, but if it's beyond that…"

"Expensive, no, they've never been…" Well, there had been that limited edition book for his last birthday, but that was just a one-off, and besides, neither of them were even remotely hurting for money. Surely using expense as a scale wasn't quite as applicable on their finances… Then again, the year before Echizen had given him that autographed tennis ball. Even if it hadn't been expensive, the trouble the other pro must have gone to, getting those signatures himself from such reclusive, retired players…

"That's just one way, of course." Inui's voice cleaved through his tumultuous thoughts like a knife. "Have they-"

"Hoi hoi!" A familiar red head bounded onto the scene, dragging his doubles partner with him. "Tezuka and Inui are early!"

"Kikumaru, Oishi," Inui greeted, abandoning their conversation. "How did your practice this afternoon go? Are you ready for the preliminaries this weekend?"

"We still have another day or two to practice, but I think we should be okay," Oishi said with a smile. Given that the chronic worrier was that confident, the doubles players must have been on top of their game indeed.

Tezuka allowed himself to sink back into the couch while the others chatted, mulling over Inui's words. He would have liked to pick the data-gatherer's brain a little longer, but at the same time was relieved that the conversation had been conveniently interrupted to save his own embarrassment. Could he reliably draw that much meaning from just a few gestures? And did that standard even apply to Echizen, who had repeatedly displayed a stubborn ignorance of those gestures when applied to himself from other third parties? Tezuka had witnessed plenty of hopeful girls' frustrations with the aloof tennis pro throughout their long acquaintance - the first being Coach Ryuuzaki's granddaughter. It gave him some small measure of hope, at least, but not enough to dare act upon it. Maybe he would have taken the chance if Echizen were openly gay. But THAT was hardly a question he could just ask out of the blue. Why did the object of his newfound affections have to fall so far outside of the realm of normalcy?

For the time being, he'd just have to control himself, he decided. His revelation was little more than a day or so old, and even though it felt as though it had been a lot longer than that – almost as though he should have had that epiphany years ago - he knew he could be patient. His coach regularly told him that his patience and self-control were among his best qualities. Even if his hormones had suddenly decided to act up, he was an adult and could handle it until the best course of action regarding the situation revealed itself. Getting so worked up about it now was premature.

Most of the others had filtered into the lobby as he sat there, stuck in his thoughts - Momo and Kaido were already getting into an argument on the other side of the room, which Taka was meekly trying to defuse.

"Hmm, where's Echizen?" Fuji asked, the latest to arrive. "He's not with you, Tezuka?"

"I came down early. He was in the bathroom when I left," Tezuka replied neutrally, roused from his introspection. Come to think of it, it was taking the nineteen-year-old a long time to come downstairs. He'd left the room well over half an hour ago now.

"Mou, I wish Ochibi would hurry up! I'm hungry!" Eiji complained, hopping on one foot. Never mind that it made him look like a high schooler all over again. The people at the front desk didn't even bat an eyelid at their antics after the first few days of it.

"Maybe you should go check what's taking him so long, Tezuka?" Fuji suggested with a slight smile on his face.

He held out the room key. "By all means, feel free to go ahead." Wait, giving Fuji unfettered access to the room would be cruel to Echizen. "Actually, never mind, I'll go."

The others kept talking amongst themselves as Tezuka headed back to the elevators. It was only halfway to their floor that the idea of giving the card to Momoshiro instead occurred to him. Too late.

With a heavy sigh, he slid the card key in the door and swung it open. The lights were still on, but there was no sign of the other tennis pro in the room. Perhaps they'd missed each other on the way? It would be just like Echizen to forget to turn off the lights.

Wait, the bathroom door was closed. Tezuka knocked on it once, and didn't receive a reply. Surprised to find it unlocked, he opened it and almost groaned when he saw that Echizen had fallen asleep in the tub again.

"Echizen, wake up. Everyone's waiting," he called. The teen didn't stir. Swallowing harshly, Tezuka stepped into the bathroom. At least now he knew why this had bothered him so much last time.

He leant down, reaching out with the intention of shaking the sleeping tennis player awake. His hand froze a few centimetres from the creamy skin, though, and his eyes wandered over the exposed collarbone almost of their own accord. Immediately scolding himself, he forced his eyes to Echizen's face to prevent his gaze straying lower - but that too proved to be a mistake. Echizen's lips were moist and slightly parted, and his cheeks were dusted pink from the hot bath, giving him a flushed look that even the most innocent of the imaginations wouldn't be able to resist.

It would be so easy to take advantage of him like this. So easy to let his eyes wander where they shouldn't, let his hand slide down that exposed chest, let his lips...

Tezuka jerked back, suddenly realising how close he'd drawn in. What was WRONG with him? He had better control of his hormones than that! He grabbed the other tennis pro's shoulder and shook it more roughly than he'd intended, trying to ignore the feeling of the warm flesh beneath his fingers. "Echizen!"

This time, the other tennis pro stirred, eyelashes fluttering briefly before half-lidded eyes sleepily found him. "Buchou?"

"You fell asleep in the tub again. Hurry up - the others are waiting."

"Right, sorry." Tezuka didn't stay to hear anything else, waiting only long enough to confirm that the other teen was awake before whisking out of bathroom and closing the door behind him, slumping into the nearest chair and trying to get his breath back.

This was quickly becoming torture. Not even twenty minutes ago Tezuka had been priding himself on his control and patience, and now...

Echizen emerged from the bathroom a minute later, still in the process of buttoning up his shirt. "Thanks for waking me up." He just nodded in response. The other tennis pro looked at him curiously as he tugged on his shoes. "Are you alright, buchou? You're looking sort of pale." Of course he was. _It's all your fault_.

"Tell the others to go ahead," he found himself saying in a slightly strangled voice. "I've developed a bit of a headache." There was no way he'd be able to handle being in Echizen's presence for the rest of the night after THAT.

"Do you need some aspirin?" Echizen asked, already moving towards the kitchenette.

"No, I've already taken some," he lied. Lying had become far too easy over the past few weeks. "Have a nice evening."

"Okay then. Are you sure you don't want me to-"

"No!" Tezuka all but barked out. Why couldn't Echizen just take the hint and get out already? "It's- I don't wish to ruin the evening for anyone else. Please, go and enjoy yourselves."

"If you say so," Echizen said doubtfully, tying up his shoes. The nineteen-year-old sounded a little disappointed, but he was probably just imagining it. "See you later, Buchou."

Tezuka waited for several minutes after Echizen had left to make certain the others wouldn't be coming up to the room, then hurried into the bathroom and stepped under the shower, turning the cold water on full blast.

At this rate, he'd be getting pneumonia.


	11. Avoiding the Issue

Author's Note: Not really happy with how this chapter came out, but spending extra time on it won't make a difference I don't think. Hope you enjoy it! Also, beware of cliffhangers hereafter. Whee!

Also, a few reviewers have asked if there will ever be a chapter from Ryoma's point of view. While intriguing, the answer is sadly no. This fic is all Tezuka, all the time.

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 11 – Avoiding the Issue

By Sinnatious

* * *

Ever since coming to realization that his much vaunted self-control and patience were not, in fact, all that they were cracked up to be, Tezuka had found himself doing everything he could do avoid his roommate. He spent the next few days occupying himself with helping the Golden Pair train or wandering the town by himself or with Kawamura. This particular pattern of activities was rather advantageous in avoiding any face-time with the other tennis pro, who was alternating between his own training, doing drills with the Golden Pair, or having his attention monopolized by Momoshiro. Since he always woke up and left the room before his companion even stirred, that limited the contact they had to mealtimes and the few minutes before they went to bed. And it was easy enough to sit at the other end of the table during meals. 

Even so, the problem was continuing to get worse, and Tezuka still hadn't figured out what he was supposed to do about it. He knew that he wanted to do something about it, certainly, and his imagination was continually cooking up more and more detailed - though utterly ridiculous - scenarios of various things he'd like to be doing about it, but what the actual proper course of action was he had no idea. The problem really lay with Echizen. He just had no clue as to how his colleague would react. Logically, one could easily come to conclusion that there had to be some mutuality to the feeling, given the difference in how Echizen treated him compared to everyone else. But at the same time, Tezuka was worried that if he did confess and the young pro didn't share his emotions, it might destroy a cherished friendship and that hard-earned respect. One just didn't throw Echizen's respect away. You could probably count on the fingers of one hand how many people he granted it to.

Because of this turmoil within him, Tezuka was having trouble even meeting the other boy's gaze now, paranoid that those sharp eyes would be able to see straight through to his impure thoughts. So he avoided locking with that hazel stare whenever possible, even though his gaze inevitably floated back whenever the teen wasn't looking.

The preliminary rounds for the tournament started on the weekend, and Tezuka attended a few of the more notable singles matches, and of course, all of the Golden Pair's games. His efforts at keeping a respectable distance from Echizen while sorting out his thoughts were a little less successful here, as everyone tended to sit together and the other pro almost invariably wounded up sitting next to him. It took a mammoth effort from Tezuka to keep his eyes forward on the games while simultaneously resisting the urge to take Echizen's hand, half from the craving to feel that contact and half out of a desire to gauge his reaction. It was something he could maybe try later in the week, he bargained with himself, when there wasn't so much of the holiday left to go. That way if Echizen responded badly, things wouldn't be awkward for as long. Well, any MORE awkward than they already were. For Tezuka. Echizen seemed blissfully ignorant of the silent torment his roommate was going through, and Tezuka had every intention of it staying that way.

Even so, it was hard whenever the nineteen year-old tried talking to him - Tezuka didn't trust his own voice anymore, so his responses on even the relatively safe topic of tennis were short and clipped. It didn't help that Fuji's amused glances and Inui's endless notebook scribbling continually fuelled his paranoia. He had briefly considered asking Fuji for help, seeing as his shrewd friend was apparently already quite aware of the situation, but his one attempt at broaching the subject had been easily sidestepped, and Tezuka was far too embarrassed to bruise his pride by trying again. It was a private matter anyway. Too many people were involved as it was.

Why did his life have to become so complicated? Up until a few weeks ago, it hadn't been much more than tennis. You couldn't get much simpler than that. Now everything had been thrown into disarray.

If it had been a stranger, someone whom he didn't respect or share a good friendship with, it would be easy and he'd know exactly what to do. If it had been a girl, he would have known what to do. Heck, if it had been anyone OTHER THAN ECHIZEN there wouldn't be any problem at all. Even if he'd suddenly developed a crush on one of his other friends, it would have been easy to figure out whether the feelings were mutual or not - from either observation or a few careful questions - and even if he'd been wrong it would have been simple enough to smooth things over with the right words. But no, he had to go and fall for the one tennis player on the circuit that defied nearly every social norm. Coming to terms with his own sexuality was hard enough without Echizen thrown into the mix.

All the same, he thought he was handling the situation as well as could be expected, and while he wasn't really sleeping very well at night – terrified of temptation – he was managing to function normally; at least, whenever the object of his affections wasn't present. His friends must have known him better than he thought, though, because after Oishi and Eiji made it through the preliminaries, his oldest friend had quietly coerced him into another private lunch.

"So, Tezuka…," Oishi started as they sat down at the diner they'd been frequenting regularly throughout their stay. "How are things going?"

"Quite well. And yourself? You've been in top form in your matches so far."

"Yes, things are going good, hopefully we can keep up the pace," Oishi agreed, almost dismissively, before leaning in. "Actually, I arranged this lunch today because I've been meaning to talk to you."

That had been obvious, but from his friend's tone, he started to suspect that _he_ was the one Oishi wanted to talk about, rather than someone else. There was no getting out of it – Oishi could be almost as stubborn as Echizen if he thought someone had a problem. "What about?"

"You and Echizen."

He might have guessed. It seemed like _everything_ revolved around Echizen these days.

"What about us?"

"Well... the two of you have been acting a bit different while we've been on holidays," Oishi addressed him in a hushed voice. "I thought maybe... you know... you seem to feel uncomfortable with us knowing about… _it_."

Tezuka didn't respond to that. He didn't really know how to, anymore. A week ago, this would have been where he would have cut in and tried to convince Oishi yet again that it had all been a big misunderstanding in the first place, but things had since changed.

"I mean," Oishi barrelled on, "I told the others to not bug you with questions or tease you guys too much, and they have been trying... even Inui's been pretty well behaved as far as I know..."

"You have nothing to apologise for, Oishi," he interrupted, when it became apparent that the doubles player was about to get on a roll. "In fact, thank you for that." When he thought about it, his friends really had given them a lot more space over the issue than he'd expected. During Momoshiro's stint of dating Tachibana's sister back in junior high, the catcalls and gossiping had been almost non-stop. Granted, they were adults now, but Tezuka suspected that age hadn't changed most of them that much. In fact, after the initially flurry of excitement, they'd all been rather careful about minding their own business outside of the odd comment here and there - except for Fuji, of course, which was odd when you considered the fact that the meddler was apparently the only one aware of the true situation. Well, not so odd, when you also considered that his friend had turned matchmaking into a hobby during their high school years. It seemed as though Fuji had recognised what was really going on before even he himself did. "It has made things easier," he added after an extended pause.

"Oh, really? Because I know Eiji can't help himself sometimes, and when Taka gets a racket-"

"It's fine, Oishi. You really don't have anything to apologise for."

"Um, okay then. But... well... you and Echizen aren't REALLY having problems, are you? I asked when we ate lunch last week, but before you could explain..."

At that moment, Tezuka was sorely tempted to confide everything in the man he probably considered to be his closest and oldest friend. Just to have someone listen, who he could trust to keep a secret and not to meddle and just generally be a sympathetic ear. But he couldn't. Not right then. It would be unfair. He could already picture Oishi freaking out over the fact that he'd exacerbated the issue by getting them a room with a single bed.

"You should just concentrate on your tournament, Oishi," he said firmly. "You and Eiji have been performing well in the preliminaries, but it's only going to get harder here on in. Don't get careless."

"But Tezuka-"

How exactly had he ever become friends with such a mother-hen sometimes mystified Tezuka, before he remembered the mother-hen tendency was probably what drew Oishi to him in the first place. "Nothing has changed between Echizen and I." It was technically true, anyway. "You just worry about this tournament."

Oishi looked doubtful. "Even though you say that, things feel like they've been a bit strained... Oh, is it the press you're worried about?"

The press. He'd almost forgotten about them, actually. After speaking with Shiba, he'd been worried about scandalous articles in all of the tabloids and tennis magazines, but all he'd seen when the regular run of weeklies had come out two days before had been one or two small asides in the rumour columns. There were three possibilities as to why this was. The first was that neither he nor Ryoma were quite as popular or famous as others made them out to be – which was true when they were overseas. The second was that the tabloid writers were exercising a rare display of sensitivity and journalistic integrity and not publishing mere rumour based on third or fourth hand sources alone. The third possibility was that Inui had something to do with it. He didn't know what, but experience had taught him to always consider Inui an option. When you had friends who liked to control information as much as Inui did, you couldn't rule them out of ANY scenario.

Still, Oishi had given him an out. "I suppose the press has been something of a concern. Echizen isn't worried about it, though, so I shouldn't be either."

"Echizen has the right idea. You have nothing to be ashamed of," Oishi stated firmly.

"I'm not- I'm just shy, is all," he finally settled. Another half-lie.

His friend's face broke into a soft grin. "Tezuka, you haven't really changed, have you? I guess if your relationship is still new… Don't worry about it. You'll get used to it. We'll help."

What?

"Oishi, that's not really necess-"

"Oh, here I am interrogating you and making us late! Look at the time! We'd better head back to the others!" His friend abruptly stood from the table, waving frantically for the bill.

The diner was only a short walk from the hotel, so they didn't get a chance to talk on the way back, though Tezuka was privately filled with dread over what Oishi's conclusion had been.

"Ah, you're back," Fuji greeted. Everyone had gathered on the footpath outside of the hotel. "Just in time. The movie starts soon."

"The movie?" Tezuka asked.

"That's right, you weren't there when we were planning it this morning," Fuji recalled, though his friend's sly look implied that he knew exactly why he'd been absent – he'd taken yet another a long morning jog to avoid Echizen after waking up from yet another vividly intimate dream. "There's an action film that just premiered at the cinema nearby. We thought we'd go see it if the match this morning finished in time."

"Ah, in that case, I was planning on-"

"You should come, Tezuka," Oishi interrupted pointedly, though he wore a sunny smile on his face. "You've been spending far too much time on your own this holiday. Who knows when we'll all next have the chance to hang out like this again?"

When his friend put it like that, it was impossible to refuse. "Very well then."

He should have known better.

The cinema was about a twenty minute walk from the hotel, and was actually rather small – it was somewhat old and dingy, ringed with lights, and thus was probably a theatre that had been converted once stage shows were no longer so popular. The foyer was surprisingly large, though, with the ticket booth off to one side and the candy bar sequestered away on the other end of the building with rope set up for long lines.

Almost as soon as they'd entered the building, money was shoved into his hands. "Tezuka, could you and Echizen go buy the tickets? We're going to hit the candy bar," Oishi asked, nudging him vaguely in the direction of the ticket booth.

"I don't know what the movie-" Oishi was gone before he could finish his reply.

"Don't worry, buchou, I know which session they want to go to," Echizen assured him.

It was tempting to just given the money to the younger tennis pro and find some excuse to put that safe distance back between them, but it would be unspeakably rude to do so. So they stood in line in awkward silence. Awkward for him, anyway. Echizen seemed to be enjoying himself, at least, though only a practiced eye would be able to discern the ghost of a smirk hovering on the teen's lips that signified the difference between boredom and contentment. For a moment, Tezuka felt proud that he was able to read the other man's emotions that well, then a second later guilty for the exact same reason.

Once they'd purchased the tickets, he thought he was in the clear, but his friends had somehow artfully arranged for him to sit next to Echizen in the theatre, despite his deliberate efforts to avoid that end when they had been filing in to the seats. For his part, the young pro didn't do anything other than wordlessly offer him some popcorn which Fuji had pressed into his hands to share. He declined, having read far too many cliché encounters of brushing hands in movie theatres to risk it.

It might have been okay after that if the movie had been good enough to hold his attention, but the plot was predictable and the characters woefully two-dimensional. So inevitably, he spent the entire movie being far too conscious of the person sitting in the seat next to him. In all honesty, it was more fun to watch the light from the movie screen create dancing patterns across Echizen's face, but Tezuka had to constantly tear his gaze away, worried that he'd be caught staring. The teen's elbow was resting on the armrest, too, and due to the small size of the seats, would brush against Tezuka's arm every time he moved. So most of the movie was spent sitting as still as possible in a slightly awkward position that minimized all possible contact.

It wasn't that he disliked the contact; it was more that even slight brushes had the horrible tendency to turn his mind blank. His physical reactions to even brief encounters with Echizen were becoming almost hair-trigger, hence his increasingly desperate attempts to avoid the other pro at all costs. He didn't like the feeling that he was losing control of his own body, but when jolts of electricity seemed to surge through him from even casual skin contact, he had to admit that his hormones were winning the battle, and the only way to stay ahead was to avoid the temptation in the first place.

Which was somewhat more difficult when you were trapped with said temptation in a dark movie theatre for two hours.

Finally, the credits started rolling, and he could get away. He'd walked slightly ahead of the group in his haste to escape, and now waited for them at the street entrance as they spilled from the theatre.

"That certainly did not fall within the average of the reviews," Inui remarked.

"It was so boring!" Eiji complained. "There were only a couple of good fight scenes! I thought you said it was good, Fuji!"

"Guess I was wrong." Though that smile seemed to suggest that movie was exactly what Fuji had thought it would be. The man's taste in entertainment was almost as off-kilter as his taste in foods, apparently.

"What now?" Momo asked.

"I could use some fresh air," Oishi said cheerfully, "Why don't we go to the park?"

It wasn't as though professional tennis players didn't already get a lot of fresh air, but everyone seemed to like the idea so they ambled off towards the park, somehow losing Kaido somewhere along the way. Tezuka tried to slip away a few times himself, but Oishi and Fuji managed to corral him and Echizen between them, continually trying to draw both of them into conversation. Tezuka was becoming paranoid that they had conspired against him, but it was much more likely that Fuji had picked up on what Oishi was trying to do without being asked.

Only when they were at the park did he finally get a chance to break away from Echizen for a while, just to relax his tense muscles and recollect his frazzled nerves. Eiji had dragged his well-intentioned but interfering doubles partner over to the monkey bars – it seemed that the hyperactive red-head had no intention of his letting his age get in the way of fun - giving him the opportunity to slip away and settle himself on the grass underneath a large, shady tree. The weather was lovely, and there was a light breeze. He had a book in his bag that he withdrew and paged through, quickly losing himself in a story far superior to the drivel they'd been watching before.

Burying himself in the narrative, time seemed slip away. Only a small part of his consciousness bothered to check the light every now and again as some means of gauging the time, and he kept an ear out in case any of his friends called him, but thankfully they seemed occupied enough. Only once did he perceive some movement out of the corner of his eye, but it was during a particularly gripping part so Tezuka did not bother to turn his head to verify who the flash of colour had belonged to.

His concentration was finally broken by the voices of his friends as they wandered back over to him, making loud jokes as they flopped down near him, disturbing his peaceful repose. A little startled at being brought so abruptly back to reality, Tezuka shut his book and looked about for his bag.

It was with a rather large measure of surprise that he realised Echizen was lying on the grass next to him, using said bag as a sort of pillow. How long had the nineteen year old been sitting there for? Why hadn't he said something to let him know he was there?

The teen tilted his head slightly, then sat up, proffering the bag to him wordlessly.

With a light nod, he took the bag back and placed the book carefully inside. Maybe it was for the best. If Tezuka _had_ been aware of Echizen's presence, a great deal less reading would have been done.

"Saa, the sun's almost set," Fuji observed, standing and brushing the grass from his clothes, the others following suite.

"Maybe we should start thinking about dinner?" Kawamura suggested.

"Hoi? What about Kaido though? Where's he gone to?" Eiji hollered.

"I was just speaking with him over the phone before," Inui reported. "He went for a jog earlier. He's on his way here now."

As though summoned by his name, the Viper in question jogged up to them, nodding in curt greeting. Before Momo could open his mouth and make a comment, Oishi hurriedly asked, "Where should we eat tonight?"

Fuji rubbed his chin in exaggerated thoughtfulness. "Hmm, I saw an interesting looking Thai restaurant on the way home from the courts yesterday."

"Ah, why does Fuji like everything spicy?! I just wanted to go get pizza!" Eiji whined.

"Pizza sounds good," Momo agreed. "We could eat it back at the hotel. I'm tired of eating out all the time."

"Pizza is not the healthiest of the foods," Inui started to say.

"Um, I don't think it would hurt just this once. I'm sort of tired after today," Kawamura meekly interjected, thankfully saving them from another lecture on nutrition from their well-meaning data-gatherer.

"I've never tried Thai," Kaido said quietly.

"What? Viper, there's a Thai restaurant just a few blocks from your house back home!" Momoshiro, of course.

"So what?!"

"Mada mada da ne, Kaido." It was the first words Echizen had spoken since the movie theatre.

"Brat."

"Everyone, calm down!" Oishi interrupted before Echizen could prompt Kaido and Momo into another fight. "We can split up, if it's going to be a problem. Who wants to get pizza?"

Momo and Eiji both threw their hands into the air. Kawamura added his a little less enthusiastically, and Echizen stuck his hands into his pockets, but sidled alongside them in such a way that his choice was made clear.

Oishi nodded. "I'll get pizza too. Fuji, Kaido and Inui have already expressed a preference to try out the Thai restaurant. What about you, Tezuka?"

"I'll go with Fuji, Kaido and Inui," Tezuka replied, though winced inwardly. He really wasn't very fond of Thai cuisine, and of the two choices would have preferred to get pizza with the others, but just knew that if he went with Echizen's group, Oishi would ensure that the two of them sat together again. Having his well-meaning friend try and throw the two of them together all afternoon had been torturous, and he didn't think he could handle any more of it.

They parted ways, the larger group heading back towards the hotel. Tezuka spent the rest of the evening pushing his food around the plate in a small and poorly-lit restaurant, listening to Fuji and Inui pry a conversation out of the reticent Kaido. The rice was at least palatable so Tezuka ate as much of that which could be liberated from the surrounding sauces as possible. Inui had inquired about his apparent lack of appetite a few times, but he merely brushed it off, saying that he'd had a large lunch.

About an hour and half later – due largely to Fuji and Inui's desire to linger over their meals – they returned to the hotel. Tezuka briefly contemplated going to train on the hotel's tennis court, even though the lights for it weren't very good, just to avoid Echizen a little longer, but figured the youth was probably still hanging out in Momoshiro's room.

When he unlocked the door and entered the room, though, he was abruptly proven wrong. Echizen was sitting there on the bed, arms crossed and posture unusually straight. The younger pro stood as he entered the room, and Tezuka realised with no small amount of trepidation that the tennis player was apparently waiting for _him_.

Tezuka stood in the short hallway uncertainly for a moment. When it became apparent that he wasn't going to venture any deeper into the room, Echizen stalked over to him in quick, measure strides, neck craned slightly upwards and eyes practically blazing.

"We need to talk."


	12. Loving Tennis

Author's Note: Am I mean enough to have two cliffhangers in a row? Why, yes. Yes I am.

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 12 – Loving Tennis

By Sinnatious

* * *

"We need to talk?" Tezuka repeated carefully. 

"Yes."

"What about?" Echizen didn't know, did he? He couldn't. Tezuka had been _so careful_.

"You've been avoiding me." The words were accusatory, and the glare accompanying them was sharp.

"I haven't," Tezuka denied.

"You have. All week." The tone brokered no argument.

"I haven't. Really."

Echizen glared. "You hate Thai food."

When had the other pro learned that? It was time to bail out. "I merely didn't want to give that rumour any more fodder until it went away," he explained. It was partially the truth, anyway.

"Not true. You weren't avoiding me that much to begin with. You only started really avoiding me the past few days. You won't even look at me. I want to know why."

Tezuka didn't have anything to say to that.

"Did Fuji say something?"

Fuji was always saying something. Tezuka still didn't respond.

The glare intensified. Fuji's sharp blue eyes were bad, but when Echizen focused his full stare on you, his eyes were practically golden, and could almost paralyse you with just a glance.

"The game. I want it now."

"What?" Tezuka was suddenly confused.

Echizen ignored him, though, storming over to the closet to fetch his tennis racket. "You promised me a game, didn't you? Whenever I wanted. Well, I want it now."

"But-" His protests were silenced when Echizen handed him his tennis racket. He HAD promised, and Tezuka didn't like going back on his word.

Still, a game, now? He didn't really feel up to it. On the other hand, what did it matter? It wasn't like it was a tournament game or anything. And he had promised. "Where?"

"The tennis court out the back."

"The lights there aren't very good."

"Since when have you or I ever needed to _see_ the ball, Buchou?"

The younger pro had a point. "Very well then."

They didn't speak as they changed into clothes more appropriate for playing tennis and headed down to the court, though the anger surrounding Echizen was practically palatable. Tezuka hadn't really expected the nineteen-year-old to even notice his efforts at scarcity, much less react so badly to them.

The court was, fortunately, already set up – obviously at some point the hotel staff had realised that they were hosting quite a number of tennis freaks in their establishment and had decided to just have the court ready for play at all times. They spent a few minutes warming up before meeting at the net. Tezuka called rough, the racquet fell on smooth, and Echizen took first serve.

The first shot was an ace – a blisteringly powerful twist serve that Tezuka was unprepared for. A quick glance revealed an intense expression on his opponent's face. Echizen must have been really, really mad to let loose a serve like that straight up. Normally Tezuka could expect to see that sort of power somewhere in the second set.

Even prepared, he barely caught the second one, and Echizen slammed it away on the return.

They actually managed a rally for the third, but Tezuka only managed to steal one point from his opponent before the game finished. He responded in kind with his own serve and Echizen met the challenge.

Echizen eventually broke serve in the fourth game, and managed to take the first set. Tezuka took the second set in the same manner. They rallied long and hard, not even stopping to take breaks between court changes save for a quick towelling and a gulp of water. Tezuka's coach would have likely lectured him, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Just the tennis. It was as though the world had ceased to exist beyond the court.

For a while, he'd forgotten what it was like, being so plagued by worry and confusing feelings. As complex as the game could become, tennis was so simple. He liked playing tennis more than anything else. Even the distant part of his mind that had him lingering on risqué fantasies involving his opponent had been silenced as he focused entirely on the game, body at times moving before he even had the chance to register what he was doing.

The tennis was intense, invigorating…. _honest_. Tennis with Echizen always was. Sometimes it felt like those games were the only times he was truly alive, as though what he'd _thought_ had been living up until the moments they were playing were just a shallow dream. It was raw, emotional tennis, and every time they played seriously it pushed him to a new height.

Tezuka almost laughed in the middle of one rally. It was love.

"Oi, buchou! Buchou!"

Tezuka paused mid-serve, glancing across the court. Echizen was standing at the net, racket propped against his shoulder. He was grinning. Tennis was about the only time Echizen ever sported a genuine smile. It made him look positively radiant. "What?"

"Buchou, that last point was match point. You won."

It felt like an odd turnaround somehow, as though they'd had this conversation before with their roles reversed. "Oh." That was sort of surprising. He hadn't been really expecting to win, anticipating his own distraction combined with Echizen's irritation to make the match unusually difficult.

"Che, as expected of buchou." His opponent looked mildly peeved about losing, but seemed to have forgiven him for his earlier transgressions. "I'll definitely beat you next time."

"I look forward to the challenge," Tezuka responded, grasping his hand and shaking it across the net. The world seemed to come back into focus, as suddenly he was hyper-aware of the distant buzz of the ineffectual court lights and the chilly evening air ghosting across his sweaty skin.

The mood had eased considerably as they headed back into the hotel, moving as quietly as possible. They'd obviously been playing for quite some time – it was near midnight, and Tezuka hoped they hadn't woken anyone up playing so late, though it was sort of surprising that they'd managed to have the match without earning spectators. Although the court was on the opposite side of the hotel to their rooms, so they probably got lucky this time.

Once safely ensconced in their hotel room, they each took a quick shower to help cool down and remove the sweat and grime accumulated from the impromptu game. Tezuka had barely finished getting changed when Echizen had wandered out of the bathroom clad in his pyjamas, hair dripping wet. Tezuka's breath caught in his throat again, but he relaxed his muscles and calmed himself. Avoiding Echizen was fine for his own benefit, but if it was going to hurt the other pro's feelings, he'd have to find a way to handle his own personal discomfort.

"Thanks for the game," he said, more as a courtesy than anything. Though really, the game had been him fulfilling his end of a bargain.

"Hn. Well, at least you're talking to me again," Echizen said dismissively. "What was the issue in the first place? And don't tell me lies about that rumour."

"I didn't really lie. It was sort of about that rumour," Tezuka admitted, drying his hair with a towel. Echizen huffed impatiently, snatching it away to dry his own dripping hair.

"You're serious? You really think avoiding me is going to make it go away?"

"I don't know what I was thinking anymore," he confessed.

"You worry too much about what other people think."

"I do not," he retorted automatically, even though he knew it was a lie. Between his coach and his parents, keeping up a good public image was an ingrained habit by now. Echizen just gave him a pointed look, proving the other pro could easily pick the denial for what it was. Fair enough. His concern over other people's opinions had been largely what had caused his anguish in the first place. When he thought about it, the main reason it had taken him so long to become aware of his feelings for Echizen was because he'd been constantly trying to categorise their relationship by what other people expected it to be.

"Is it that obvious?" he relented.

"It is to me," Echizen remarked, almost dismissively.

Instead of the thought being heart-warming, though, it was mildly terrifying that the teen could see through him like that. "There's nothing wrong with trying to meet people's expectations so long as you can remain true to yourself," Tezuka argued.

"Yeah, but we're adults. You don't have to apologise for bad behaviour anymore," Echizen pointed out. "You shouldn't care that much about what other people think and say, especially if it's the press."

"I know that. That's not what I meant."

His roommate gave him a half-hearted glare. "Then what _did_ you mean?"

Tezuka wasn't really sure himself, anymore, only sensing that the conversation was treading into dangerous territory. How could he explain that a lifetime of ingrained values and habit had intruded on his thinking to the point where it had taken him years to figure out his feelings in regards to the other male – to the extent that it had still taken him time to catch on even when the evidence was thrown in his face? "It's natural to seek the approval of those around you so long as it doesn't interfere with your personal priorities. Most people do it unconsciously. You cannot please everyone, though, so in the end, you're most likely to accommodate whoever you seek the approval of the most, and whichever course of action is most in line with your own wishes," he explained vaguely, trying to dodge the question.

Voice partially muffled by the towel, his roommate replied, "So, you've been avoiding me because of the press, because you're that worried that the scandal will ruin your career and everyone's good opinion of you?"

"No. I mean, yes, I did… it's complicated," he finished lamely.

"So then you've essentially been avoiding me for no good reason!"

"No!" Tezuka denied, slightly panicked. "I… I just worried, and wasn't certain how to react, that's all. It was stupid, I know. Sorry."

"Che, damn right it was stupid." Flinging the towel away after drying his hair, Echizen flopped onto the bed next to him. "It's just gossip, anyway."

"Right, gossip." He was quickly becoming distracted by the heat radiating off the freshly showered body sitting far too close next to him. Thus the following words left Tezuka's mouth before he had the chance to register thinking them. "But what if it were real?"

Echizen cocked his head thoughtfully at that, giving him a little smile. "Heh, that wouldn't be so bad, would it, buchou?"

It was almost as though those words were a switch that removed the last of his self-control. Body moving as though on automatic, he reached out, grasping Echizen by the shoulders and turning him to face him. The nineteen year-old stared at him quizzically, eyes widening marginally as Tezuka brought their faces close and pressed their lips together.

It started out a chaste kiss. Echizen had frozen beneath his fingers, and somewhere amidst the chaos of his whirling thoughts Tezuka wondered if the shock had rendered the other pro immobile, and was waiting nervously to be shoved away, or possibly punched. After a moment, however, he felt Echizen tentatively respond.

Tezuka could have died happy, right then. Was it possible? Was it true that Echizen felt the same way? Dare he believe?

Emboldened, he drove the kiss deeper, arms at some point wrapping around the young pro without his noticing. His glasses were knocked askew when they bumped into Echizen's cheek, but neither of them noticed. A distant part of him vaguely became aware of a hand entwining itself in his hair, another resting against his chest. Rational thought had all but abandoned him at that point, as he found himself able to focus only on the electric sensation of Echizen's touch and the hotness of his mouth.

Eventually, they broke for breath with a gasp. Tezuka stared, panting, into his roommate's half-lidded eyes. They looked golden in the dim light, and vaguely reminded him of a satisfied cat.

"Tezuka," Echizen breathed, face slightly flushed. With a jolt, he realised it was the first time he'd ever heard his actual name spill from the other pro's lips.

"Call me Kunimitsu," he implored, pulling Echizen into another kiss and pushing him back against the bed.

"Only if you call me Ryoma," came the response when they next broke apart.

"Ryoma," he tried, testing the word out on his tongue. Echizen – no, Ryoma, he corrected himself – grinned and this time pulled _him_ down to smother his mouth in another lip lock. Tezuka absently noted that he really should have taken off his glasses at some point, because they were sitting at an odd angle anyway and digging painfully into his face. He didn't dare pause, though, some irrational part of him afraid that if he hesitated for even an instant, he'd wake up and this dream would all melt away. The more rational part of him was insisting that this was all happening too fast, too soon, and that they really should stop, talk, discuss, or at the very least exchange some sort of confession so that this didn't turn into some sort of misunderstanding or one-night stand, but his rational side had been the somewhat weaker of the two of late.

When they next broke apart to breathe, bodies pressed together on the bed, Tezuka didn't pause, just diverted his attention elsewhere, trailing kisses down Ryoma's face to his collarbone. He could feel a hand wandering up and down his back as his own made clumsy work of the buttons on the nineteen-year-old's shirt.

"Are you sure this is alright?" Ryoma gasped, hands clenching at the fabric of the front of his shirt.

"How could it be wrong? Everyone else seems to think its fate," Tezuka murmured against his neck.

It was meant as a wry joke, but suddenly, the teen froze. Sensing the change, Tezuka halted his ministrations, growing confused as Ryoma pulled away.

"Ryoma?"

The younger pro looked troubled. "That's how it is, isn't it?"

"What?"

Suddenly, Ryoma stood and hurried to the closet, shoving on a pair of shoes and grabbing a jacket. "Sorry, buchou." And with no further fanfare, his roommate disappeared through the door before Tezuka had even gathered wits enough to stand.

What on earth…?


	13. The Truth Will Set You Free

Author's Note: Only one chapter left! I am almost nervous about finishing. Thanks for all the reviews so far! I'd really like to reply to them all, actually, but for most of them I can't think of anything valid to say other than a generic 'thanks', which I expect is a bit shallow and pointless. Ah well. Know that all of the reviews and comments are deeply cherished. On with the chapter!

* * *

**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 13 – The Truth Will Set You Free

By Sinnatious

* * *

Tezuka didn't get any sleep that night. He'd been in shock for a good ten minutes, thoughts whirling chaotically about his head, before it finally occurred to him that he ought to go after Ryoma, to explain – though what he was explaining he wasn't yet sure of. Even as he reached for his jacket though, he had to pause. Where would Echizen have gone? If they were at home in Japan, he would have at least had an idea of some different places to check, but they were in unfamiliar territory. 

He went and checked the lobby and the tennis court, just in case, but when both were deserted he headed back to their room, at a loss. Surely his roommate couldn't have gone too far – he'd left wearing only a jacket over his bed clothes, after all! Maybe he'd gone to Momoshiro's room? But what if he hadn't? It would be awkward explaining what had happened to the others if he came around looking.

It appeared that there was nothing to do then but wait until Echizen came back.

Except that Echizen didn't come back.

At first he couldn't fathom what had been going through the other pro's head. Where was the misunderstanding? What was there to misunderstand? He'd been the one to instigate the kiss, and Ryoma had responded. What had he done wrong?

Unless… Tezuka realized that he'd only really been considering it from his own point of view. What would the situation look like to someone who wasn't sure of their own feelings? It was entirely possible that Ryoma had just become caught up in the moment. His heart sank at the thought, but he shook his head. No, he didn't think that was right. Why would Ryoma have been so quick and eager insist on the use of first names if he didn't feel the same way?

Somehow, Tezuka knew it was his fault. Echizen had one way or another come to the conclusion, from that stray remark, that his feelings weren't genuine. He puzzled over that for a few minutes, trying to figure out what was so offensive about it. Ryoma had asked if it was okay, and he'd responded in the positive – it wasn't like he'd said 'no' or anything like that.

With a flash of insight, he picked up his phone. Of course! If he couldn't find Echizen in person, he could at least call him and talk the matter over. Hurriedly, he keyed in the numbers and held the phone to his ear, silently urging the other pro to answer.

A muffled jingle played from the other end of the room. Despondent, Tezuka followed it, and found Echizen's phone underneath the spare towel that had been discarded earlier. With a curse, he shut his phone off and slumped into the chair. What was he supposed to do now?

The hours crawled by like years. More than once he considered going to bed, but he didn't want to be asleep when his roommate came back. And even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to relax enough, consumed with anxiety over the whole affair and with a healthy dollop of worry lathered on top over his roommate's current whereabouts. It took a ridiculous amount of self-control to stop himself from running out into the night looking for him, even if he intellectually knew that he'd just be more likely to miss the other man that way.

So Tezuka didn't sleep. He made himself tea, then coffee, then paced back and forth in the room. When the sun rose, he finally ceased his vigil to have a shower, hoping that perhaps when he emerged Echizen might have returned – some foolish wish in line with the notion of a watched pot never boiling. He even stayed in longer than usual to that end, but the hotel room was still deserted when he stepped out of the bathroom.

Half an hour more of pacing later, he gave up, deciding to head downstairs. Ryoma had to pass through the lobby to get into the hotel – he'd be less likely to go insane waiting for him there than waiting for him in here. Maybe the other pro would become hungry and come to breakfast, even.

To his surprise, the others were already gathered in the foyer, despite the relatively early hour. Though it shouldn't have been surprising – he vaguely recalled plans for going out that morning, since Oishi and Eiji didn't have a match that day. Naturally, with everything that had happened, he'd completely forgotten about it. More startling, however, was the sight of a familiar figure attempting to walk past them.

"-you tell us, Ochibi!" He only caught the end of Eiji's cajoling.

"Been out running it off this morning, huh?" Momo laughed. That killed the small hope he'd had that the nineteen year old had gone to Momoshiro's room, leaving a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Where had the youth spent the night then? Had he really just been wandering the streets for the past seven hours in his pyjamas?

"Shut up," Ryoma muttered, jostling past them, heading towards the elevators which Tezuka had just disembarked from. The teen looked up at that moment, and caught sight of him. Time seemed to stop as they both froze, but Echizen refused to meet his eyes, and after a moment, broke the spell by hurriedly stalking past him.

For a long moment, he was too surprised to react, but when the shorter man brushed by him without a word, Tezuka jerked around. "Echi-Ryoma!" he called, reaching out for the other pro, twisting him around to face him…. and immediately pulled back as if he'd been burned.

It was clear his roommate hadn't slept either. Ryoma was sporting deep bags under his eyes, and his gaze was so cold it felt like ice water was being dumped over his head. "I don't want to talk to you right now," he whispered, abruptly shrugging him off and stalking into the waiting elevator.

Tezuka couldn't do anything, couldn't form any of the words that needed to be said, and merely stood there, still as a statue, as the doors closed, separating them once again.

The quiet sound of the doors closing seemed to spur him into action, as he hurriedly pressed the button to call the other elevator, ignoring the confused chatter of his friends in the background. He had to speak to Echizen. He _had_ to.

It seemed as though the elevator would never come, and when it did, it travelled at a mind-numbingly slow pace. Naturally, when he finally arrived on their floor, his roommate was no longer in sight. Once he reached the door to their room, he took a deep breath, not quite certain yet of what he was going to say, but needing to see the other man at least.

Nerves gathered as best as they could be, Tezuka opened the door and stepped into the room. Surprisingly, it was empty – how could the teen have slipped past him? – but after a moment he heard the tell-tale click of a lock on the bathroom door.

"Ech-Ryoma?" he tried, standing near the door. There was no response, but if he strained his ears, a slight shuffling sound of movement could be heard within.

The other pro could lock him out, but he couldn't block his ears. "Ryoma. We need to talk. I need to explain…" he trailed off, partially because he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to explain first, and partially because the sound of the shower being turned on full-blast could be heard through the door.

Apparently Echizen could block his ears after all.

Tezuka stood there for several minutes, considering entering into a battle of patience, but the younger man could be remarkably stubborn when it came to these sorts of confrontations, and he'd probably waste an awful lot of water in the interim. Depressed, he left the hotel room again, temporarily defeated.

Ryoma hated him now. Of all the outcomes he'd worried about, this was the one he'd feared the most.

Like a zombie, he headed back downstairs. His friends were still gathered around, looking confused – though their expressions eased considerably when they caught sight of him. Tezuka slowly walked towards the breakfast table they were standing next to, feeling the sudden need to sit down.

"Morning Tezuka," Inui greeted. "You don't look like you slept very well."

"No," he mumbled in response, not quite able to summon a proper greeting himself.

"Fssshuuuu, what was up with the brat?" Kaido hissed, still looking towards the elevators.

"Did you two have a fight?" Oishi asked worriedly.

"…Something like that."

"A lover's spat?" Momoshiro teased.

"We're not lovers," Tezuka said heavily. The words felt like puncture wounds.

"Nya, but Ochibi had a hickey!" Eiji crowed, elbowing his doubles partner in the side. That must have been what the acrobat had been trying to tease Ryoma about earlier.

Tezuka was finding it hard to find words, right then. All he could really think was that he'd messed things up terribly. He'd hurt Echizen, and he wasn't even sure how. It was a sickening feeling that made his stomach churn.

"Tezuka?" Oishi asked in concern.

Fuji's eyes were wide open. Even Inui had stopped scribbling in his notebook.

Tezuka sat down heavily at the table, and put his head in his hands.

"Hey, Tezuka! Are you really okay?" Oishi stammered, hurrying to sit next to him, voice pitching up in concern.

"I messed up." His voice sounded strangled even to his own ears.

"Eh?" Momoshiro voiced as the rest of them gathered around.

There was a long pause, mostly due to everyone's confusion and Tezuka's unwillingness to explain. Finally, Fuji broke the stalemate.

"Tezuka and Echizen were never actually going out."

The sudden silence was deafening.

"You're kidding Fuji, right? Right?!" Eiji demanded, looking uncertain, as though he wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be a joke or a deadly serious matter.

"Even I wouldn't kid about something like that."

Oishi was looking at him thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it... I don't remember Tezuka ever once calling him by anything other than Echizen... or Echizen calling Tezuka anything other than 'buchou'..."

"I thought 'buchou' was like a pet name!" Eiji protested. Tezuka felt his fingers tense.

"Echizen never stopped calling Tezuka 'buchou'," Momo informed them. His laid back tone didn't quite match the worried expression on his face.

"Eh? You mean for that for the past month... when Tezuka kept saying that it wasn't true... you mean...," Taka looked stunned, and then suddenly guilty. It seemed like his friends were finally coming to believe what he'd been saying all along. So it had only taken one dissenting voice after all.

"Fsssshuuuuu. Sorry Tezuka," Kaido said quietly next to him, expression somewhere between horrified and embarrassed.

"We really didn't mean to make things so awkward! Argh! No wonder Echizen's been so cranky at me!" Momo exclaimed.

"But Ochibi and Tezuka make such a good couple!" Eiji complained, seeming not able to quite grasp the sudden shift. "I always thought so - didn't all of you?"

There was embarrassed shuffling of feet.

"You two did look rather natural together, I thought," Kawamura admitted, looking apologetic. "I sort of always assumed that eventually…"

"My data made it seem like the most reasonable conclusion…"

"Even though he never said anything about it, Echizen always seemed to hold Tezuka in such high regard…," Momo added.

The others let their eyes wander around the room, as though not wanting to confess their own thoughts on the matter. Tezuka could guess, anyhow. Oishi had pretty much already outlined what everyone had thought to him anyway.

"Are you gay?" Inui piped up suddenly.

"Inui!" Oishi chastised immediately.

"It's a valid question. That was one of many assumptions made. I am seeking to correct these assumptions."

Tezuka closed his eyed, and just nodded. Amidst his revelation of his attraction to Ryoma, he had given that matter some thought, and it hadn't taken that long to reach that conclusion. His persistent lack of interest in girls was not baseless, but he'd never even given himself the chance to consider if his preference lay in other avenues – he'd just assumed for such a long time that he wasn't at the stage in his life where he was ready for a romantic relationship. At least now he knew why his few abortive attempts at dating in high school had been so spectacularly boring.

"Hmm, so at least the original basis for these assumptions was not incorrect… the only difference is that you and Echizen are not, in fact, dating, correct?"

Tezuka nodded again.

"Never have been?"

"Of course not," he whispered – he didn't dare raise his voice any louder, lest it wobble.

"We've already established that, Inui," Fuji reminded the data-gatherer.

"I know, but it is all very shocking… it is so grossly out of proportion with my data," Inui muttered, then paused. "Though... I do not think that my original data was in error."

"Eh? What are you talking about Inui?" Taka asked curiously. The others stood at attention to hear the resident data-expert speak.

Inui pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "Given the subject of recent conversations and the data I have been gathering over the week... Tezuka, is it fair to say that you and Echizen are not dating... _yet_?"

"Eh? Yet?" Oishi asked, looking confused. After a moment, though, his eyes widened and he turned to stare at his distressed friend in horror... "Tezuka... you mean...?"

It seemed that the cat was out of the proverbial bag. "It must be pretty obvious that I like Echizen, huh?" he asked weakly. "It seems that everyone else knew before I did."

Oishi was distraught. "I booked you the room with the single bed, too... it didn't even occur to me... Tezuka, I'm so sorry! That must have been so hard for you!"

"Wait, wait, you mean that even though they're not actually dating… they want to, right?" Momoshiro asked.

"I'm not so sure about Ry-Echizen," Tezuka explained. Why did his body feel so heavy? Oh right, he hadn't slept for twenty-four hours.

"You two _did_ fight," Oishi fretted, apparently recalling their brush in the lobby and the nineteen year-old's foul mood.

The others had all fallen silent, absorbing this turn of events. Their resident hyperactive redhead, however, just couldn't seem to grasp the sudden flip the universe had taken. "But…. Ochibi had a hickey," Eiji repeated his earlier statement lamely.

At those words, the other's eyes all widened and Tezuka was vaguely aware of a set of six heads swivelling towards him.

"Tezuka, did you…?" Inui started hesitantly.

"Fssshuuu, did you hurt him?" Kaido grunted, suddenly stepping forward threateningly.

"No!" he retorted, a little more loudly than he intended. "No, it wasn't… it was just kissing… but then he-" Suddenly embarrassed, Tezuka trailed off. He couldn't talk about such a personal matter with his friends in the middle of a hotel foyer.

"So you confessed?" Momo demanded. His best friend was involved, so he was clearly getting worked up over the issue.

"Not exactly," he replied reluctantly. "We were talking, and one thing led to another… he was willing," he added defensively when he saw Kaido giving him a suspicious look. "I didn't intend to suddenly kiss him like that, but he was willing."

Inui nodded sagely, snapping shut his notebook that had been resting open, forgotten, in his hands. "Of course. Almost anyone would be pushed to the limits of their self-control under that situation. You've been sharing the same bed for the past week and a half, after all."

Oishi looked somewhat as though he was about to hyperventilate. "Tezuka, I really thought… if I had known…"

"It's not your fault, Oishi. Don't blame yourself," he said dully.

It wasn't his fault – any of their faults. Not really. It had been his own slip-up to begin with. If anything, maybe he ought to thank them for finally bringing his attention to the issue. Without that catalyst, who knew how many more years it might have taken him to finally pay attention to his own feelings? By then it might have been too late. Both he and Echizen were on the same pro circuit now, but it wasn't hard to imagine one of them suffering an injury and deciding to retire later on down the track, and what might have happened then?

The fact of the matter was, Tezuka was not a wishy-washy person. He wasn't teetering on the brink of indecision or anything like it, and he never had been. It just hadn't been something he'd thought about before the misunderstanding had FORCED him to. And now that he had, he knew the path he had to take... he just didn't know how to walk it. That had been the real problem, and the only reason he'd stalled and avoided Ryoma as he had.

Of course, the situation was now hopeless. Ryoma hated him, he was sure. How could he have been so insensitive? No matter the other person's feelings, of course they were going to take it the wrong way if you just kissed them out of the blue! He'd known that from the beginning!

Only… Echizen had responded to start with. He'd even insisted on first names.

It was so confusing! Why couldn't it be more like tennis?

Even that thought made his heart ache for Echizen though – he'd heard that exact phrase spill from the other's lips almost as frequently as his infamous 'mada mada da ne'.

"What do I do?" he asked, more speaking to himself than those around him.

"Well, that's easy, isn't it?" Fuji replied. "Talk to him."

"What?" Tezuka hadn't really been expecting a response – in fact, for a second he'd almost forgotten that his friends were witnessing his little breakdown. "No… I already tried. He won't listen. He hates me."

"My data does not suggest that is the case," Inui disagreed. "And it is imperative that the misunderstanding is cleared up, for better or for worse."

Tezuka knew that, really. He'd wanted to speak with Ryoma all night, after all, to try and explain himself properly as he should have done in the first place and figure out whether the other man felt the same way. But after the other pro had brushed by him in the lobby with such a look in his eyes… and when he'd refused to even give him the chance to talk… he didn't think he could stand that conversation anymore. If Echizen announced that he hated him… Tezuka just knew that he'd fall apart.

It was a curious sensation, having your entire world hinge on one person like that. He'd never truly understood it before, and privately found the actions of friends and family fighting with their significant others baffling. Discovering how emotions could so easily sweep aside all rationality was not something he was enjoying. He was in control. His rationality and ability to rise above petty emotions was something he prided himself on. Now it was just something else of himself that had been swept away by this entire fiasco.

As if sensing his inner anguish, Oishi laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Tezuka… you have to. I don't really think Echizen will do it." That was true. Echizen was notorious for stewing over his problems alone until they festered into something much worse, and would almost certainly never confront anybody over a personal matter. "Talk to him again. Make him listen. You can do it."

Tezuka sighed. "You're right… I guess I'll just give him some time. Maybe once he's calmed down…" And it would give him more of a chance to make sense of situation, too. He was too close to the whole affair to see everything clearly. He needed to find some way to take several steps back to sort things out. It would be stupid to apologise without being certain of what exactly he was apologising for first.

"Are you sure? I mean, maybe we could somehow-"

"Saaa, let's go Oishi," Fuji suggested, manoeuvring the doubles player away from the table, with a shell-shocked Eiji robotically following. "It'll all sort itself out. Tezuka has said he'll find a way to talk to Echizen. Don't you trust him to keep his word?"

"Yes, but-"

"Momo, Kaido, aren't you coming?"

"Uh, right."

"Fsssshuuuuu."

His friends shuffled away, murmuring worriedly amongst themselves. Tezuka briefly wished for the days where he could assign them all laps for gossiping, but that only made his mind leap to Ryoma, only this time all he could see were those cold, hurting eyes.

He buried his face in his hands once again. Gods, if the press ever found out the full story about this, they'd have an absolute field day.


	14. A Lot Like Tennis

Author's Note: I think I gave myself _cavaties_ from this last chapter, but the fic overall has been terribly fun to write. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I hope you enjoy the last chapter.

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**  
The Power of Gossip**

Chapter 14 – A Lot Like Tennis

By Sinnatious

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Tezuka spent most of the morning wandering around the hotel foyer and tennis courts, trying to figure out what on earth to say to Echizen when he confronted him. He figured that it was probably best to have some sort of plan for what he wanted to say, so that he didn't screw up and somehow make the situation even worse. 

Twice he returned to the room, and both times as soon as he started to try to speak, Echizen had turned on the shower to drown him out. Defeated, he retreated. When his friends returned later and he informed them of the situation, Momo had gone instead, but just shook his head when he returned to the lobby. The others didn't try after that, knowing that if Echizen wouldn't even give his best friend the courtesy of hearing him out, the rest of them had no chance. Instead, they hovered around, offering their support and endlessly apologising for the chain of misunderstandings. It struck Tezuka as absurd, really, since it has been his moment of panic that had landed him in this predicament to begin with, but at the same time he was glad none of them were blaming him for what had happened.

On a trip to the bathroom, he tried to establish some line of communication again - calling Echizen's phone - but it wasn't picked up. It had been a long shot – the other tennis player would likely just assume it was his bothersome manager again and not even look at it. Did the woman even know that she was going to be out of job yet?

The day dragged on, with his friends coming and going, though they seemed to be making sure that he had a baby-sitter at all times. Being idle was starting to irritate him, so he excused himself at some point in the afternoon to go run solo drills on the tennis court behind the hotel. There was the risk he'd miss Echizen if the teen tried to leave, but he'd go completely crazy if he just kept sitting around brooding. Tennis always helped him think, anyway.

His control was terrible, his strokes sloppy, and his power non-existent, but that was to be expected given that he was operating on no sleep. Fuji, Inui and Momo had stuck around, no doubt wanting to keep an eye on the situation, but thankfully none of them commented on it. Unless you counted Inui's endless note-taking and inaudible murmurings as comments.

Letting his mind go blank, he tried to look beyond the situation if the worst case scenario eventuated. He'd still have tennis. Not that much would change – at the worst he'd lose Ryoma's friendship. As painful as that thought was now, and how world-ending the notion seemed, he knew rationally that after a time he'd get over it. It wasn't as though he'd been leading up to this for months and months, after all – he'd only developed a romantic interest in his colleague very recently, and while it felt longer due to his lengthy period of self-denial, it wasn't as though he'd invested years into it.

Rationally, he knew all of this. Once again, though, looking at the situation logically didn't seem to help him feel any better about it.

A shot went wide, and Tezuka suddenly became aware that someone else had entered the court. For one brief moment, his hope sparked as he thought it might be Ryoma, but that notion was quickly dashed when it turned out to be Fuji instead.

"Tezuka, it's getting late," his friend said, no trace of that ever-present smile on his face. Well, even Fuji, legendary for smiling at inappropriate times, knew that there was a time and place.

So it was. The sun had set, and twilight was setting in. How long had he been robotically running through sloppily executed solo drills?

"Sorry, I lost track of time. Has Echizen…"

"No, Inui was keeping an eye on the elevators, and he hasn't gone past. Do you want to see if one of us should try talking to Echizen for you again maybe?"

As tempting as the notion was, he shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, but it really is a private matter."

"Ah. Of course. We all really would like to see you and Echizen happy, though, so don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you," he repeated, and meant it. His earlier irritation at Fuji for poking the proverbial hornet's nest had mostly evaporated.

"Still… I hope Echizen comes down to eat. Momo was worried, since he hasn't tried to talk to him, either. Though I guess he can order room service… still, it must be very quiet and boring in there. Especially if he's hiding in the bathroom."

Tezuka felt even worse when he realised that Ryoma had now been holed up in the room by himself all day. He'd been so busy worrying about how to get the teen to talk to him that he'd almost forgotten the fact that Echizen had refused to talk to _anyone_. Earlier he'd been so grateful to have his friends supporting him, throwing him advice, keeping his thoughts on track… but his roommate had spent the night apparently wandering the streets by himself, and now had spent most of the day alone as well, brooding in the bathroom.

Worry was replaced by something very close to panic. It was a bad idea to let Echizen stew in his own thoughts. They'd all witnessed the problems it had caused first hand when the youth, as a twelve year old, had been given the opportunity to go to the American Open. There had been other cases, too, but normally one of the regulars spotted the symptoms in time – usually Oishi or Momo – and they'd forcefully intervene to set the other boy straight. Echizen's logic, though always reasonable, sometimes became skewed and heaped unnecessary grief onto the younger player, and his pride stopped him from asking for help when he needed it.

The thought that the nineteen year old could be experiencing that again right now, alone in their room, was all that Tezuka needed to finally spring into action. It was his mess that had caused Echizen to get this upset. He'd fix it, even if it was at the cost of his own heart.

Muttering some generic excuse, Tezuka all but ran back into the hotel, ignoring the surprised exclamations from Momo and Inui from the sidelines. He jammed the elevator button with the palm of his hand, striding purposefully into the elevator before the doors had even finished opening. The slow ascent to his floor felt painfully long. How could he have even briefly entertained the notion that Ryoma would come around on his own? He should have waited outside of that bathroom door for as long as it took – wasted water be damned!

He fumbled awkwardly with his card key at the door, almost slamming it shut in his haste to get into the room. It was dark – obviously the lights hadn't been turned on yet. Had Echizen really spent the _entire day_ locked in the bathroom? He'd assumed that the teen would come and go as soon as he heard him at the door. Was the other really that paranoid about running into him? Was he that angry?

It didn't matter – he wouldn't back down this time. "Ryoma!" He called, banging on the bathroom door. "Have you been in there all afternoon?! Come out! We have to talk. Ryoma!" He tried the handle, but it was clear the door was still locked.

There was still no response, but Tezuka could hear movement inside. Cursing to himself, he considered his options. The other pro had already proven that talking through the door wouldn't work – he obviously had to see his roommate face to face. That only left one choice: breaking the door down. It didn't look that heavy, and the lock mechanism was rather flimsy – it would probably give under a hard jolt of pressure. It was extreme, and Tezuka knew he was overreacting, but trying to work the situation rationally hadn't helped his case any yet. Damages be damned – he could afford to pay the hotel the cost of a broken door. What he couldn't afford was to let the situation with Echizen drag out even a minute longer.

Backing up, the pro tennis player braced himself, then ran at the door. Just as his shoulder connected, though, the door suddenly gave way, and Tezuka, driven forward by momentum, found himself tumbling in a flail of limbs into the bathroom.

For a second the world was spinning crazily, and he couldn't quite figure out what had happened. Mentally checking that he hadn't injured himself – well, aside from a probable bruise here and there – he then turned his attention to the warm body pinned underneath him.

Ryoma let out a groan. Tezuka pushed himself up on his elbows, frantically checking over the other individual. "Are you alright?" It looked like they'd both come frightfully close to hitting their heads on the edge of the bathtub.

"What were you doing?!" Ryoma demanded, raising his free hand to gingerly check his head, eyes still squeezed shut.

"Trying to break down the door," Tezuka admitted a little sheepishly. It appeared that the younger pro must have unlocked it and started opening it at the exact moment he'd charged.

The teen let out a choke that sounded suspiciously like a muffled laugh. "I didn't think you were the sort of person to do something like that. It seems more like Momo's sort of thing."

"I was desperate."

Ryoma finally opened his eyes at that, staring at him expressionlessly. At least it was a slight improvement from the chilling look earlier that day. Tezuka matched his gaze steadily. Neither of them moved, and the moment drew out until the nineteen year old finally asked, "Would you mind getting off me?"

His reflex was to scramble from their compromising position immediately, but even as he started to raise himself, he paused and considered the other man thoughtfully. "I'm not so sure. Are you going to run away the moment that I do?"

Sighing, Ryoma just shook his head slightly, looking defeated. The expression didn't really fit his rival.

Tezuka clambered somewhat awkwardly to his feet, which was rather difficult without putting his hands in the wrong places. Eventually, he managed to extract himself and back out of the relatively small bathroom, giving the sharp-eyed teen room to sit up. Ryoma winced a little, massaging the back of his head that, while missing the tub, had probably hit the tiles rather hard, before standing also.

"I wanted to talk," Tezuka began, once it appeared his companion had regained his bearings.

No response – just an expectant look as if to say that was obvious.

"I probably should have said this to start with," he began, keeping his posture rigid and speaking formally. "I like you, Ryoma."

Echizen opened his mouth as though to respond, then closed it again. The lamplight caused his eyes to gain that haunting shade of gold. Finally, he muttered, "Do you really?"

That wasn't quite the response he'd been expecting. Typically, in that situation there was either a return of the feelings, or an outright refusal. A little bit scandalized by the suggestion he would joke about something like that, he protested, "Of course I do!"

"Why all of a sudden? We've known each other for years!"

"I know. I think I've felt this way for a while, but I only realised it recently," he explained.

"'Everyone else thinks its fate', you said," came the biting words.

"You asked if it was okay, and I said yes. I know my wording was slightly…" Tezuka paused, trying to find the right words. "…Unorthodox, I suppose, but I would have thought my meaning obvious. Why did you react so badly?"

"How was I supposed to know?!" Ryoma suddenly lashed out, eyes blazing. "Nothing you've done lately has made any sense! What am I supposed to think, buchou?!"

Tezuka took an involuntary step backward at the sudden burst of emotion from his normally stoic roommate. Nothing he had done made any sense? What could be a clearer indication of his intentions than kissing him?

The blood practically drained from Tezuka's face as he rethought the past few weeks. Dear God… he'd made such a fuss over trying to dispel the rumour, then followed it up by avoiding Ryoma all week, and then the first time they spent any amount of time alone together again he'd done that… of course his roommate was confused! He'd been sending such terribly mixed signals all along…

"I see… I should apologise. I hadn't thought… how my earlier actions would appear to you in light of doing that."

Echizen just folded his arms and looked away petulantly.

Regaining his sense of equilibrium, he adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "I acted irrationally. I must confess that the situation was surprising for me and I wasn't quite certain of the best way to handle it, and so let me nerves get the better of me. Really, I am very sorry."

"Hn, that's not like you at all."

"I suppose it isn't. But I dare say that when it comes to such emotional matters, even the most level-headed among us can act like idiots."

The other pro smirked briefly, seemingly proud that he'd forced that admission.

They stood there in silent stalemate for a long moment. Finally, Tezuka stated again, "I do like you. I didn't confess properly like I'd intended, but that fact remains true."

The teen stepped forward suddenly, gaze burning as he looked up to meet his eyes. "Is it real? Are you really sure you actually like me, and aren't just telling yourself that you do because everyone expects you to?" Ryoma challenged.

Then it all finally made sense. That was the real crux of the matter. That was why his roommate had reacted so badly to that one comment. He thought that Tezuka was simply being peer-pressured into it. The conversation they'd been having only the night before suddenly rushed back into the forefront of his mind. All that talk of people's opinions, of public image… of course his comment would be misconstrued in that context! How could he have been so careless?!

Two long strides forward, and he was suddenly crushing Echizen against his body in his tight hug, eliciting a surprised gasp from the other tennis player. "Of course I'm sure," he whispered into his ear. "I'm just more amazed it took me this long to figure it out."

"Buchou…?" The tone was unsure, now.

"I won't deny that I care about what the others think. I can't just stop that. But you… Your opinion is the one that matters to me the most."

It was the complete truth, probably one of the most honest things he'd said recently. There was no uncertainty that his feelings were genuine. He'd briefly tried to squash them for a time, but for once his powerful logic and self-control had been unable to override his emotions.

When Echizen didn't move, he started to hesitantly withdraw from the embrace, but before he could a pair of arms wrapped around his back and Echizen buried his face in his shoulder.

"Ryoma?" he asked hesitantly.

"I like you too, buchou," came the muffled reply. The hands clenched in the fabric of his shirt.

"Ryoma…" It was the best response he could have hoped for. Tezuka had to resist the urge to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't just imagining it. Somehow, he'd been so prepared for the worst-case scenario that he hadn't thought too deeply about what would happen if his feelings were returned.

"Just let me stay like this. Just a little longer," came the quiet voice.

Tezuka smiled, tiredness forgotten, and threaded his hand through the green-black hair. "For as long as you want." Then a thought occurred to him. "Where did you go last night, anyway? I was worried."

"Heh. All-night movie marathon."

"Oh. What was playing?" It was an inane question, but after a day of silence, he desperately wanted to hear the other man's voice as much as possible.

"One horror, one comedy, and that movie we went to go see with the others. It was _awful_."

"Surely you would have already known that."

"Yeah, but I wasn't really watching the first time."

Tezuka hugged him just a little tighter at that.

They stood there for a long time, before Ryoma's rumbling stomach broke them out of their reverie. Glancing at the clock, Tezuka realised that it was already dinner time. "You probably haven't eaten all day, have you?" he asked, half amused and half concerned as they broke apart.

Echizen blushed slightly and looked away.

"Do you feel like coming down to dinner?"

The young tennis pro crossed his arms. "Can't we just get room service?"

It was tempting. But the heavy fog of sleeplessness and worry that had clouded his mind for most of the day had finally lifted, and thinking about it, he'd just run out on Fuji earlier with nothing more than a garbled 'have to go to do something'. "We should probably at least see the others first," he said, a little reluctantly. "Momoshiro and Kaido were both quite worried about you. Oishi, too."

"Oishi being worried is nothing new," Ryoma snorted, but moved to put on his shoes anyway. "At least those rumours are the truth now, right buchou?"

Tezuka cleared his throat, even as he changed his shirt into something more appropriate for eating out. "Actually, they all believe me now. It seems Fuji figured it out at some point."

There was a pause. "…Somehow I'm not surprised." Then a longer pause. "Then when that bastard gave me that-"

Hurrying along, Tezuka handed Ryoma a hairbrush to distract him before the teen could get riled up and started slipping on his own shoes. "I'm sure they will be pleased to know that we've sorted things out, though Kikumaru will likely be very confused. He saw your neck this morning," he informed the other man carefully.

Ryoma's hand flew to the still-visible mark on his neck, blushing furiously much to Tezuka's amusement. He tugged up his collar a little higher, frowning, before sending a sly grin over his shoulder. "Ne, buchou, you know this means we're never going to have to worry about fangirls proposing again, right?"

"An unexpected boon," he responded dryly as he held the door open.

They stood in silence in the lift on the way down, though just before it reached the ground level Tezuka felt another hand take his own. It took a lot of self-control to keep his smile at the shy gesture small. Really, he wasn't one for public displays of affection at all – and hadn't imagine someone as prideful and private as Ryoma was to be either – but it was reassuring given the tumultuous twenty-four hours they'd had, and would tell their friends everything they needed to know in a glance.

Indeed, as soon as they stepped into the lobby – it looked as though everyone had been waiting for them – Eiji spotted them and let out a loud "Woo woo!"

It was whirlwind of faces, questions and answers after that, as Oishi scolded his doubles partner and everyone came rushing over, firing questions left and right. Momo hovered over Echizen, slapping his back and asking questions, Inui took data, and Kikumaru was so excited he was practically running in circles. Most of it passed in a bit of a haze for Tezuka, as he automatically assured his friends that everything had been worked out now and thanked them for their interference, regardless of the temporary negative effects it had wrought. The only thing that really stood out through the sea of faces and barrage of words was the sensation of the warm hand firmly attached to his. It assured him that it was real, and not merely a happy fantasy dreamed up by his sleep-deprived brain.

They let up on them while they went to dinner – just the nearby McDonalds this time, which was hardly the healthiest food they could have eaten but Ryoma, Momo and Eiji seemed pleased by the choice so everyone else went along with it. Almost as soon as everyone was finished eating, though, they started back up again, seeming not to need their input anymore to discuss the blossoming romance in their midst. It was like a dam had burst.

Tezuka tolerated it, though, mostly because of how relieved Oishi had been. His friend had practically been in tears, and Eiji had whispered to them that his partner had been absolutely hopeless in practice due to his guilt and worry, and that it was a damn good thing he and Ryoma had sorted things out otherwise they would have lost the quarter-final the next day. Somewhere amidst all that had happened, they'd almost forgotten that they were there to watch a tennis tournament. Inui, on the other hand, looked far too pleased with himself, no doubt feeling vindicated by the fact that his data had not been in error after all.

There was one question he had, though… "Fuji," he said quietly as they started to leave the restaurant. "When _did_ you figure it out?"

His friend smiled at him. "I'd like to say from the very beginning, but truthfully? It was when you asked Echizen when he wanted his game and Ponta."

Of course Inui would have probably transcripted their conversation after the 'revelation' and relayed it word for word, but trust Fuji to make the connection from a careless comment three weeks later. At least it meant when his friend had been teasing him initially, he hadn't already known. Although that still meant that his other stunt… Tezuka forced himself not to think about. It truly was better to just bask in the moment in this case.

About halfway back to the hotel room, the lack of sleep seemed to catch up with both of them. Tezuka barely recalled returning to the room and having a shower, and wound up fumbling rather badly when folding his glasses and placing them on the nightstand. He blamed the exhaustion for the overly sentimental kiss he placed atop Ryoma's head when he crawled into bed with the other man. Somehow, it wound up turning into a lengthy make-out session, which was only broken when Ryoma let out a protracted yawn as they broke for breath – quite effectively killing the mood. Tezuka would have been offended if he weren't trying so hard to avoid laughing. "Alright, sleep," he ordered. The teen pouted, but didn't argue.

Flicking off the lights, he settled into the blankets, feeling another body scoot up next to his. It wasn't as though they weren't likely to wind up in that position by morning anyway, but given the situation he figured it was nice to start out that way for a change.

Despite his exhaustion, sleep didn't come to claim him immediately. It took quite a lot of discipline to force the thoughts whirling in his head to quiet. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, though, comforted by the presence of the warm body next to his, Ryoma suddenly spoke up.

"Hey buchou?"

"I thought I said you could call me Kunimitsu?" Tezuka groaned, rolling over onto his stomach. It was as though his roommate had sensed the exact moment he was about to finally lose consciousness.

"Yeah, but buchou suits you better." When Ryoma said it in that breathy tone of voice, he had to agree.

"What is it?"

"I was thinking... maybe we should go into doubles."

"What are you talking about? We're both terrible doubles players. Neither of us have played doubles since middle school," Tezuka mumbled into his pillow, half-asleep.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind playing with you."

"I wouldn't mind either, but our tournament schedule is already crazy enough without adding doubles to it."

"It would be funny though."

"Why, because we'd be a team in the doubles final and then equally exhausted when we played each other in the singles final?" Tezuka normally tried to avoid that sort of arrogance, but when he was half asleep the blunt truth was good enough. Ryoma would have said it if he didn't, and it WAS true. Neither of them had a threat to their No.1 or No.2 status other than each other. The past year had been spent simply trading the spot between them.

"Might be a challenge. We've practically mastered our singles games. Maybe we could learn some new tricks from doubles."

That was a more compelling argument. "Hmmm..."

"And Kikumaru and Oishi will need a good challenge. They're breezing through this tournament. They're going to slaughter the competition in a year if they do that weird synchro thing of theirs."

"Maybe after they've won a few tournaments. It would be a shame to steal their thunder," Tezuka conceded.

Ryoma laughed softly. "I thought you said we were both terrible doubles players, and now you think we'll be able to beat them first go?"

"You must be a bad influence on me. Now go to sleep."

Even though he couldn't see it in the darkness, Tezuka could sense that cat-like smirk all the same. Eventually, though, his companion's breathing evened, and the room was quiet was once again. It was tempting to just lay awake and relish the assurance of Ryoma's presence, despite his own tiredness.

He let himself drift off, though. After all, Eiji and Oishi had a match tomorrow morning they were expected to attend, and while there weren't that many days of this strange little holiday left, he was sure that he and Echizen were going to have plenty of time later to explore their new relationship. He had the feeling that it was going to be very much like tennis, and neither he nor Ryoma ever played tennis halfway.

* * *

Thanks for reading.


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